Editor’s Note: Columnist Laurie Baron has been scouring the TV and Internet services for movies of Jewish interest that you can watch at home. Combined with the previous installments of his research, it is quite a collection. Here are links to Parts I, II, III,IV, V, and VI.
Arranged (Amazon): An Orthodox Jewish woman and pious Muslim woman become friends as both of their parents try to find them the right men to marry.
The Birdcatcher (YouTube, Google Play, Vudu) Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to work on farm in Nazi-occupied Norway.
City of Joel (Amazon, Google Play, YouTube): Documentary about Satmar enclave located 50 miles north of New York.
Dough (Amazon, Tubi): Delightful comedy about a Kosher baker who hires an African immigrant as an apprentice. When the latter hides his marijuana in the dough, business picks up.
Harold and Maude (Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Amazon): Perhaps the perfect black comedy to watch during a pandemic exploring the celebration of life and fascination with death.
Leon the Pig Farmer (Amazon, Tubi): A Jewish man discovers his biological father is a pig farmer and reunites with him to learn the trade.
Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, YouTube): If you enjoy classic slapstick, you’ll love this comedy about a French anti-Semite and Arab revolutionary disguised as rabbis trying to escape their enemies.
Messiah (Netflix): A street preacher from Syria claims to be the Messiah and marches with his followers to Israel prompting investigations by the CIA and Mossad.
The Operative (Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube): The Mossad recruits a woman to serve as a spy in Tehran.
Resistance (Amazon): How the French Jewish boy scouts and Marcel Marceau helped rescue Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of France.
Seder-Masochism (Vimeo) Animated musical recounts the Passover story with stunning visuals.
The Spider in the Web (Google Play, Vudu, YouTube): A young Mossad agent assists an aging agent in trying to gather intelligence on a Syrian chemical warfare plant.
West Bank Story: Academy Award winning short about a love story between an Israeli man and Palestinian women whose parents run competing falafel stands.
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Laurie Baron, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of European History at San Diego State University; a humor columnist (in his own name and in that of his dog Elona), and is an authority on Jewish-themed movies, particularly those dealing with the Holocaust. To see an archive of his stories, please click on his byline at the top of this page. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com
Unorthodox
The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. It is the first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish. Rotten tomatoes gives it + 95%