Universal brings October 8 to Blu-ray with a comprehensive supplemental package, and watching Wendy Sachs’ documentary in the comfort of home somehow makes its urgent message even more unsettling. There’s something particularly jarring about experiencing this film on your couch, surrounded by the familiar trappings of everyday life, while confronting footage of university students chanting slogans that would have been unthinkable on American campuses just a few years ago.

I’ll be honest: I approached this documentary with some trepidation. In our current media landscape, films about contentious political topics often feel like exercises in preaching to choirs rather than genuine attempts at understanding. But October 8, originally titled “October H8te,” surprised me with its methodical approach to documenting a cultural moment that many of us witnessed in real-time but perhaps didn’t fully process until seeing it compiled into a coherent narrative.

October 8 chronicles the explosion of antisemitism across American college campuses, social media, and city streets in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. What emerges isn’t just a documentary about rising hate, but a broader examination of how quickly cultural norms can shift when tragedy becomes weaponized by different factions pursuing their own agendas.

Table of Contents

• The Day After Everything Changed
• Voices from the Storm
• When Hollywood Goes Silent
• Student Testimonies That Hit Different
• Technical Presentation That Serves the Message
• Supplemental Features Worth Your Time
• Final Thoughts: Wrestling with Uncomfortable Truths

The Day After Everything Changed

October 8 opens with survivor testimonies from the October 7 Hamas attack, and I found myself gripping the remote tighter as these firsthand accounts unfold. Director Wendy Sachs makes the wise choice not to dwell extensively on the attack itself, but rather to establish the human cost before pivoting to her real focus: what happened next.

The transition from October 7 to October 8 feels like watching a cultural gear shift in real-time. Sachs shows us Times Square on October 8, where anti-Israel protesters had already gathered to celebrate what many were calling acts of resistance rather than terrorism. Watching this unfold again, with the benefit of hindsight, I couldn’t help but think about how quickly our information cycles move, how rapidly tragedy transforms into talking points.

What struck me most about this opening sequence was the juxtaposition Sachs creates between the raw human suffering of October 7 and the almost immediate politicization that followed. As someone who remembers scrolling through social media that week, seeing friends and colleagues stake out positions before the bodies were even counted, this felt uncomfortably familiar.

The film’s strength lies in its methodical documentation of how antisemitic incidents spread from elite universities to mainstream culture. Sachs doesn’t sensationalize; she simply presents the footage and testimonies, letting viewers draw their own conclusions about what they’re witnessing. This restraint makes the material more powerful than it would have been with heavy-handed editorializing.

I appreciated that Sachs avoids the trap of creating false equivalencies or both-sides arguments where none exist. The film acknowledges that criticism of Israeli government policies is legitimate while distinguishing between such criticism and the eliminationist rhetoric that emerged on campuses. This nuanced approach elevates the documentary above typical advocacy filmmaking.

Voices from the Storm

The interview subjects in October 8 create a compelling mosaic of perspectives, though I noticed how many establishment voices felt compelled to speak out precisely because so few others would. Actor Michael Rapaport’s candid assessment of his own position in Hollywood’s hierarchy provides one of the film’s most memorable moments: “The fact that I was the big Hollywood name other than the great Debra Messing is some real fucking disappointing shit.”

Rapaport’s self-deprecating honesty cuts through the documentary’s more serious tone while highlighting a troubling reality about celebrity silence. Watching him process his own disbelief at being among the few willing to speak publicly about hostages reminded me of those moments when you realize you’re in a smaller minority than you thought.

Congressman Ritchie Torres emerges as one of the film’s most compelling figures, partly because his progressive credentials make his staunch defense of Israel more politically interesting. His presence in the documentary serves as a reminder that anti-antisemitism isn’t inherently a conservative position, despite how the political landscape has shifted.

The inclusion of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Hassan Yousef, provides crucial context about Hamas’s long-term strategy. His warnings about the globalization of intifada feel particularly prescient given subsequent events. Listening to him describe Hamas’s deliberate cultivation of Western sympathizers, I found myself thinking about how many of the campus protesters probably had no idea they were advancing a carefully orchestrated propaganda campaign.

Sheryl Sandberg’s participation adds corporate establishment credibility, while Debra Messing’s role as both executive producer and interview subject creates interesting meta-commentary about entertainment industry complicity. Watching Messing describe feeling “completely betrayed by Hollywood” while helping to finance a film that other major studios wouldn’t touch speaks to the systemic nature of the problems the documentary identifies.

When Hollywood Goes Silent

Perhaps the most personally resonant section of October 8 deals with entertainment industry silence. As someone who follows film industry politics, watching Messing describe her efforts to get celebrities to sign a letter calling for hostage releases felt familiar in depressing ways. The film includes comparisons to previous celebrity activism campaigns, particularly the #BringBackOurGirls movement, that highlight the selective nature of Hollywood moral outrage.

The documentary doesn’t need to explicitly state what many viewers will recognize: that speaking out about certain issues has become a career liability in an industry increasingly sensitive to social media backlash. Watching this section, I thought about other recent cases where entertainment figures faced professional consequences for expressing unpopular opinions, regardless of their merit.

What makes this segment particularly effective is how it avoids conspiracy theories about deliberate antisemitism in favor of documenting simple cowardice. The industry’s silence appears less malicious than self-interested, which somehow makes it more disturbing. At least malicious intent suggests conviction; this feels more like moral bankruptcy disguised as business prudence.

Rapaport and Messing’s willingness to appear in this documentary, knowing it could further alienate them from industry colleagues, demonstrates the kind of courage that the film argues has become increasingly rare. Their participation feels like a form of solidarity with the students and community members whose testimonies form the documentary’s emotional core.

The film’s examination of celebrity activism reveals how hollow much of it really is. When the causes are safe and popular, everyone wants to participate; when they’re controversial, even previously outspoken advocates suddenly discover the value of staying in their lane.

Student Testimonies That Hit Different

The heart of October 8 lies in its interviews with current and recent college students who experienced campus antisemitism firsthand. These testimonies feel different from the celebrity and expert interviews because they carry the weight of lived experience from people whose lives were directly disrupted by the events the film chronicles.

Talia Khan of MIT, identified as the daughter of a Jewish mother and Afghan Muslim father, provides particularly nuanced perspective on the complexity of campus dynamics. Her description of feeling caught between communities resonated with anyone who’s ever felt politically homeless during polarizing times.

The student who served as University of California Santa Barbara’s student body president and faced harassment for supporting Israel represents dozens of similar cases documented throughout the film. Watching her describe the torrent of hate messages she received for issuing a statement supporting Israel made me think about how quickly academic institutions abandoned their stated commitments to protecting student welfare.

What struck me about these testimonies was how these students were forced to become advocates for their own safety and dignity. None of them seemed to want to be political activists; they were thrust into that role by circumstances beyond their control. Their reluctant activism felt more authentic than the professional advocacy that often dominates documentary filmmaking.

The film wisely lets these students speak for themselves rather than having experts interpret their experiences. This decision creates more powerful emotional impact while avoiding the condescension that often mars documentaries about young people. These aren’t naive children who need adult guidance; they’re intelligent individuals processing genuinely threatening situations.

Some viewers might question whether these testimonies represent isolated incidents or broader patterns. The film’s strength lies in accumulating enough examples to demonstrate systematic problems while avoiding the temptation to claim every campus in America became hostile to Jewish students.

Technical Presentation That Serves the Message

Universal’s Blu-ray presentation of October 8 delivers clean video and audio that serves the documentary’s primarily talking-head format well. The image quality reveals details in news footage and social media content that help viewers process the massive amount of information Sachs assembles throughout the film’s 100-minute runtime.

The documentary’s visual approach emphasizes clarity over style, which feels appropriate for subject matter this serious. Cinematographers Tom Gat and Cameron Edward-Wallis create professional-looking interviews while avoiding flashy techniques that might distract from testimony. The editing by Inbal B. Lessner, Nimrod Erez, and Jaki Covington maintains narrative momentum while allowing speakers adequate time to develop their arguments.

Sharon Farber’s musical score walks the difficult line between providing emotional support for difficult material without manipulating viewer responses. The orchestral compositions create appropriate atmosphere without overwhelming dialogue or becoming heavy-handed in their emotional cues.

The film’s integration of social media content, news footage, and original interviews creates a coherent narrative from what could have been overwhelming source material. The technical team deserves credit for making complex information accessible without dumbing it down for general audiences.

The Blu-ray’s audio presentation handles the various source materials well, maintaining consistent levels between professional interviews and found footage. This technical competence allows viewers to focus on content rather than being distracted by production values.

Supplemental Features Worth Your Time

Universal’s Blu-ray includes deleted scenes, extended interviews, and behind-the-scenes material that provide additional context for the main feature. The extended interviews with key subjects like Congressman Torres and Mosab Hassan Yousef offer deeper exploration of topics that the main feature could only touch upon.

A director’s commentary track with Wendy Sachs provides insight into her production process and the challenges of securing distribution for controversial documentary content. Hearing Sachs discuss the industry resistance she encountered adds another layer to the film’s themes about institutional cowardice.

The behind-the-scenes materials document Sachs’ trips to Israel and her interviews with October 7 survivors, providing context for how these testimonies were obtained. This supplemental content helps viewers understand the extensive research that went into creating the final documentary.

Additional archival footage and social media content that didn’t make the final cut provides more examples of the antisemitic incidents the film documents. While this material might feel repetitive after watching the main feature, it serves as useful documentation of the scope of what occurred.

The package also includes promotional materials and press coverage that demonstrate how difficult it was to get mainstream attention for the documentary’s release. This meta-content reinforces the film’s arguments about media and industry bias in ways that feel educational rather than self-serving.

Final Thoughts: Wrestling with Uncomfortable Truths

October 8 succeeds as both documentation and argument, though viewers should understand that it presents a particular perspective rather than claiming false objectivity. The film’s strength lies in its accumulation of evidence rather than its analytical framework, which allows audiences to process the material without feeling manipulated.

Watching this documentary at home, pausing occasionally to process particularly disturbing footage or testimony, I found myself thinking about how we consume and respond to real-time cultural crises. The film serves as a reminder that the social media conversations we engage in casually can have real-world consequences for actual people.

The documentary raises questions about campus speech codes, administrative responses to harassment, and the boundaries of legitimate political protest that extend beyond its specific focus on antisemitism. These broader themes about institutional responsibility and democratic norms give the film relevance beyond its immediate subject matter.

Some viewers will undoubtedly criticize October 8 for its one-sided approach or its failure to engage more deeply with Palestinian perspectives. These criticisms miss the point: this isn’t a film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but about American responses to it. Sachs stays focused on her actual subject rather than attempting to solve Middle Eastern politics.

The film’s most valuable contribution may be its documentation of how quickly cultural consensus can shift when institutions fail to maintain basic standards of civility and safety. Watching respected universities struggle to respond to clear harassment reminded me that democratic norms require active maintenance rather than passive assumption.

You can find October 8 available for digital rental on Amazon Prime Video or purchase the Blu-ray from major retailers such as MovieZyng.

October 8 demands viewing not because it provides easy answers, but because it documents questions that American society needs to confront honestly. Whether you agree with all of its conclusions or not, the film succeeds in creating space for conversations that our current political climate often makes impossible. In our polarized times, that alone makes it valuable.