FILMS 

Rabin in His Own Words

The story of Yitzhak Rabin’s life, from his birth in Jerusalem in 1922 to his assassination in Tel Aviv in 1995, parallels the history of modern Israel, and the greatest virtue of this documentary is that every word is spoken by Rabin, from public rallies to off-the-record conversations. Director Erez Laufer draws an unvarnished portrait of the warrior-statesman. Menemsha Films. —Tom Tugend 

 

Keep Quiet

This documentary explores the remarkable transformation of Hungarian Csanad Szegedi, a fascist politician, after he is outed for having Jewish roots. The film raises provocative questions as Szegedi—whose grandmother, he learned, survived Auschwitz—explores Judaism with an Orthodox rabbi. Among the most fascinating scenes are when Szegedi is confronted by international Jewish audiences, who criticize his political past and question his sincerity. Passion Pictures. —Peter Ephross

 

STREAMING

The Stigma?

When Catalan filmmaker Martí Sans came into contact with Barcelona’s tiny, unobtrusive Jewish community, he was struck both by its beauty and his own prejudices. These impelled him to deconstruct his previously unacknowledged anti-Semitism, a process that culminates in a heady look at 2,000 years of Jewish history on the Iberian Peninsula. This is ironic, given that a 2008 genetic study found that 20 percent of the Iberian population has Jewish ancestry. Alter Video.  —Judith Gelman Myers