The Jewish Americans
by David Grubin
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DVD details
Actor: Blair Brown, Eno Freedman-Brodmann, Joyce Antler, Kasey Fechtor, Liev SchreiberDirector: David Grubin
Brand: Paramount
Producer: David Grubin
Writer: David Grubin
Producer: Amy Brown
Producer: Dalton Delan
Producer: Denise Dorn
Producer: Jay Sanderson
Producer: Jeff Bieber
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 360 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-02-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: PBS Paramount
DVD Reviews of The Jewish Americans
DVD Review: My DVD Purchase
Summary: 4 Stars
The DVD is excellent and the price was great. The seller shipped it out rapidly.DVD Review: Fantastic Documentary
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved it. One of the best documentarys I've seen. Educational, informational and insightful. It's a keeper. DVD Review: Unexplainable omission
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good doc about Jewish Americans and how they emigrated to the United States. It was quite interesting to discover that the nursing profession was invented by a Jewish woman in New York. There are very fascinating facts throught this piece. There are many contributons discussed including commentary from Michael Tilson Thomas on his grandfather's contribution to early Yiddish theatre as well as Irving Berlin's impact on the music world. However, good this may be I am baffled at the omission of a great American Jewish composer who is not mentioned in this film or the comapnion book: George Gerswhin. His contribution is unparraled and there is not one word about him. By no means is this a comprehensive history. And there is a key point that Younger Jews today who have money and did not grow up in poverty or victims of Anti-Semitism will probably be out of touch with the early Jewsih experience and not realte to this at all. As is the case with many younger generations who don't seem to appreciate the roads that are paved a little further for them so that they may struggle less than those before them. Still overall an interesting and importatn look into Jewish historylook DVD Review: awesome program/series
Summary: 5 Stars
what a great series. i learned so many things that i had never known.
i recommend to anyone and everyone
DVD Review: Love it!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great DVD. It is a must have for any American Jew wanting to learn more about their Jewish heritage. This DVD can be watched over and over again.
Description of The Jewish Americans
The Jewish Americans, directed and produced by David Grubin, tells the dramatic history of Jews in America. This riveting documentary focuses on individual personalities and stories that chronicle the 350 year saga about immigrants who gradually wove themselves into the fabric of American life by forging a thoroughly American identity without abandoning the cherished traditions that often set them apart.Originally broadcast on PBS, The Jewish-Americans covers 350 years in the lives of Jews who have struggled to maintain their religious identity and still be fully accepted as Americans. It is a story at once specific and universal, one that can be appreciated by any ethnic or religious minority who tests whether "democracy, like America, can find room for everyone." Beginning with 23 Jewish exiles seeking safe haven in New Amsterdam in 1654, writer-director David Grubin does an admirable job of charting the often rocky and treacherous course for Jews in this country, and their personal "tug of war between being American and being a Jew." Do they consider themselves Jewish-Americans, or American Jews? Carl Reiner, Mandy Patinkin, Sid Caesar, Jules Feiffer, playwright Tony Kushner, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are among the more recognizable personalities who offer illuminating commentary and bittersweet reminiscences. But Grubin presents what he calls "an ensemble of voices" rather than "a star-studded parade." Authors, historians, sociologists, academics, and rabbis share a rich personal and cultural history.
Narrated by Liev Schreiber, The Jewish-Americans is comprised of three two-hour episodes, "They Came to Stay," "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times," and "Home." Each is a richly textured tapestry of talking heads, still photos, archival footage, and audio and film clips (the inevitable Gentleman's Agreement), and reveal how Jews have become woven into the fabric of Jewish life. Songwriter Irving Berlin wrote "God Bless America," and the holiday classics "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade." Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman. Another crossover pop culture success was Gertrude Berg as Molly Goldberg of the Bronx, offering sage advice and homespun wisdom on radio, television and the movies. One illuminating segment reveals how assimilated movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's Andy Hardy films, with their "fairy tale visions of small town life," were the "American fantasies of a Jewish immigrant." Anti-Semitism rears its ugly head throughout the series. Grubin captures the hysteria surrounding the murder trial of Georgia factory worker Leo Franks, who, in 1915, was falsely convicted in the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, and subsequently lynched by a homicidal mob. The segment that addresses the Holocaust documents America's indifference in dealing with Hitler's "Final Solution." Grubin notes how political activism has long been a part of Jewish-American life, and how Jews took an active role in the Civil Rights struggle. As the old saying goes, you don't have to be Jewish to be compelled and profoundly moved by this ambitious documentary miniseries. But it couldn't hurt. --Donald Liebenson
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