Good Jewish Films
A list of quality films related to Jewish religion and/or culture. Some of them may only have a tenuous Jewish connection.
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- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsTopolNorma CraneLeonard FreyIn pre-revolutionary Russia, a Jewish peasant with traditional values contends with marrying off three of his daughters with modern romantic ideals while growing anti-Semitic sentiment threatens his village.
- DirectorBarbra StreisandStarsBarbra StreisandAmy IrvingMandy PatinkinA Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsAdrien BrodyThomas KretschmannFrank FinlayDuring WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
- DirectorGideon RaffStarsMbulelo GrootboomSizo MahlanguMichael Kenneth WilliamsIsrael's Mossad agents attempt to rescue Ethiopian Jewish refugees in Sudan in 1979.
- DirectorDon BluthStarsDom DeLuiseChristopher PlummerErica YohnWhile emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must locate them while trying to survive in a new country.This one has something new: A family of Jewish mice! Not the most kosher proposal ever but quite charming.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsDaniel CraigLiev SchreiberJamie BellJewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHarrison FordKaren AllenPaul FreemanIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
- DirectorPawel PawlikowskiStarsAgata KuleszaAgata TrzebuchowskaDawid OgrodnikA novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.
- DirectorEran KolirinStarsSasson GabayRonit ElkabetzSaleh BakriA band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.
- DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardJack OakieDictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
- DirectorTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseMichael PalinBorn on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
- DirectorNatalie PortmanStarsNatalie PortmanGilad KahanaAmir TesslerThe story of Amos Oz's youth, set against the backdrop of the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details the young man's relationship with his mother and his beginnings as a writer, while looking at what happens when the stories we tell become the stories we live.
- DirectorGérard OuryStarsLouis de FunèsMiou-MiouSuzy DelairA bigoted Frenchman finds himself forced to impersonate a popular rabbi while on the run from a group of assassins - and the police.Some might think the comedy in this film insensitive, but there is a true plea for tolerance and acceptance embedded in this film.
- DirectorWojciech HasStarsJan NowickiTadeusz KondratIrena OrskaJózef visits his dying father at a remote mental institution, where time itself doesn't seem to exist, and the line between dreams and memories becomes indistinguishable.This is a beautiful adaptation of the works of Bruno Schulz, a Polish Jew who was shot by a German Nazi in 1942.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsSean GulletteMark MargolisBen ShenkmanA paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsMichael StuhlbargRichard KindSari LennickLarry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsWoody AllenMia FarrowPatrick Horgan"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMartin LandauWoody AllenBill BernsteinAn ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsGregory PeckLaurence OlivierJames MasonA Nazi hunter in Paraguay discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
- DirectorRonald NeameStarsJon VoightMaximilian SchellMaria SchellFollowing the suicide of an elderly Jewish man, a journalist in possession of the man's diary investigates the alleged sighting of a former S.S. Captain, who commanded a concentration camp during World War II.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsDustin HoffmanLaurence OlivierRoy ScheiderAfter the shocking murder of his older brother, a New York history student finds himself inexplicably hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsMaximilian SchellRod SteigerRobby BensonIn 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.
- DirectorEli CohenStarsR.H. ThomsonSaul RubinekMerlee ShapiroMontreal 1948. On Rosh Hashanah, Chaim (a Yiddish writer) is forced to think of his religion when he's asked to be the tenth in a minyan. As he sits in the park, he suddenly sees an old friend whom he hasn't seen since they quarrelled when they were yeshiva students together. Hersh, a rabbi, survived Auschwitz and his faith was strengthened by his ordeal, while Chaim escaped the Nazis, but had lost his faith long before. The two walk together, reminisce, and argue passionately about themselves, their actions, their lives, their religion, their old quarrel, and their friendship.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsRobert TaylorElizabeth TaylorJoan FontaineA knight seeks to free the captive King Richard and put him back on the throne.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsAlan BatesDirk BogardeGeorgia BrownIn Czarist Russia, around 1911, a Russian-Jewish handyman, Yakov Bok (Sir Alan Bates), is wrongly imprisoned for a most unlikely crime.