Spiral (2017)

This is the latest documentary that shows Jews still have it rough

This past year has seen an incredible rise in documentaries. While they have felt way more entertainment based than I cared to see, the documentary tackles an incredibly important issue. I appreciate that the film was made in France, as it evades some of the emotional crutches that comes with American human interest documentaries. Specifically, the film goes out of its way to avoid having the audience pick sides. The cycles of fear, hatred and violence are shown in terms of impact rather than who kicked off the scuffle.

By removing the need for an enemy, the focus is placed on the roots of the trouble. While antisemitism is increasing in France and around the Western world, many won’t like the various looks at the participants. Many of the vignettes/short segments will put you on a face-to-face level with people losing their dreams of pioneering into new frontiers. Due to the documentary being so short, you won’t get a lot of answers. More than anything, it’s just a deep look at the people impacted by multi-faceted religious discrimination.

Special features does it have?

You get conversations with the filmmakers about the subject matter. I enjoyed listening to the Director talk. That’s about it.

Spiral is available now!