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A Personal Look at Anti-Semitism

Amos Lassen | Little Rock, Arkansas | 12/08/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

""Kike Like Me"

A Personal Look at Anti-Semitism

Amos Lassen

I must admit that the title "Kike Like Me" is intriguing and the idea to make this movie is noble. Jamie Kastner has tried really hard to give us his personal look at anti-Semitism. When asked if he is Jewish, he answers yes just to see the reaction. He is embraced by the Hassidic community of Brooklyn and he pays a visit (a short one) to pat Buchanan. He travels--London, Israel, Berlin, Paris and Krakow and he talks to Jews about how others see them. He asks non-Jews how they feel about Jews and he goes to Auschwitz but refuses to be a tourist. What he finds everywhere he goes is anti-Semitism and I am sure it is everywhere if you look for it hard enough. Kastner just does not understand why being Jewish matters. He is clever and his ways of exploration are clever. He, however, is often sarcastic and insensitive and this hurts his film.
There is a lot of potential in this film and there are parts that are excellent but by and large, I found the film to be offensive. His own brand of "anti-Semitism" is felt throughout the film especially at Auschwitz where he has a total lack of respect. Kastner comes across as an arrogant and pompous person and he has seemingly no direction in mind as to how formulate his film. I do not understand where he was going with this film. He started off good but by the end of the film the themes and Kastner lie dead. He is inadequate in his job here and often comes across as looking foolish and ill prepared.
There are other wonderful films about anti-Semitism out there--"Defamation" by Yoav Shamir, for one and it does the job it set out to do. Kastner's film unfortunately did not.
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