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Defamation

EMAILPRINTFirst Run Features

Defamation reviews
58
10.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 10 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 1 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Yoav Shamir

Directed by: Yoav Shamir

Release Date:
Theatrical: November 20, 2009

Running Time: 91 minutes, Color

Origin: Israel | Denmark | USA | Austria

Language(s): Hebrew | English

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Intent on shaking up the ultimate ‘sacred cow’ for Jews, Israeli director Yoav Shamir embarks on a provocative - and at times irreverent - quest to answer the question, “What is anti-Semitism today?” Does it remain a dangerous and immediate threat? Or is it a scare tactic used by right-wing Zionists to discredit their critics? (First Run Features)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

This brave documentary takes on the topic of anti-Semitism in a relentlessly probing and original way.

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75

Boston Globe Ty Burr

In its sneaky, cheeky way, Defamation is a mitzvah, an act of kindness.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

Defamation tries to give all sides a full airing, but it's not hard to guess the director's own feeling. At the end, he says, "Putting too much emphasis on the past, as horrific as it has been, is holding us back."

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70

Variety Leslie Felperin

End result is at once intelligent, wry and -- there's no way around it -- quintessentially Jewish, in the best sense.

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60

The Hollywood Reporter Ray Bennett

The most affecting scenes, however, involve the class of Israeli teenagers visiting Auschwitz.

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60

Time Out New York S. James Snyder

Like Moore’s modus, Shamir’s stroll is sloppy, but his willingness to tip sacred cows is truly courageous.

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60

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Even though Defamation, which is sprinkled with unexpected moments of wry humor, will be inescapably controversial, Yoav Shamir strives admirably to be evenhanded.

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50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

While he takes an evenhanded approach, the filmmaker appears on camera far too often and goes off point as frequently as Moore.

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50

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Like most good documentaries, Defamation poses more questions than it purports to answer, before arriving at the mildly reductive postulation that what's past is past.

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40

The New York Times Neil Genzlinger

Disorganized and somewhat annoying.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 1 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it a10:
What makes an important film-maker? someone who asks questions others dare not utter. in this sense this film explores questions that are on most peoples mind but dare not ask. Jews the world over are incredibly powerful, and more power to them, in which case it begs the question, where is the anti-semitism thats rife and out to create another holocaust? in the words of a contributor 'Jews have never had it so good'. they place too much importance and attention on themselves, always believing themselves to be the victims in every incident, to the detriment of everyone else.highly recommended, unless you're a Zionist, in which case this brief review makes me an anti-semite.

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