38 | DECEMBER 26 • 2019 

AT THE MOVIES
The epic war film 1917 follows 
two young British soldiers at the 
height of WWI. They are given a 
seemingly impossible mission: to 
quickly cross German-occupied 
territory and tell a British 1,600-
man battalion that the Germans 
are planning to ambush them. 
(Opens Jan. 10.) 

1917 has received great 
advance reviews. The film is 
nominated for a 2020 Golden 
Globe award for best dramatic 
film, and the film’
s director 
and co-writer, Sam Mendes, 
54, is nominated for a Golden 
Globe for best film direc-
tor (Look for Jewish Globe 
nominees Jan. 2.) Mendes is 
British. His father, a UK cit-
izen of Portuguese descent, 
isn’
t Jewish. His mother is 
an English Jew. His par-
ents divorced when he was 
young, and he was raised by 
his mother. Success came 
early to Mendes, acclaimed 
while still in his 20s as a 
great theater director. He got 
Oscar-nominated for his first 
feature film (American Beauty, 
1999) and has had many hits 
since, including the Bond films 
Skyfall and Spectre. My sense 
is that Mendes has always 
been secular. 
Likewise, the new remake of 
Little Women got great reviews 
following its Dec. 7 special 
one-theater opening. However, 
unlike 1917, it didn’
t get many 
Golden Globe nominations. Of 
course, the film is based on 
the famous Louisa May Alcott 
19th-century novel about four 
young adult sisters. Timothee 
Chalamet, 23, plays Theodore 
“Laurie” Laurence, the only major 
male part in the film or novel. 
(Opened Dec. 25)

 
FRIED DONUTS AND MORE 
On Dec. 21, the Food Network 
premiered The Ultimate 
Hanukkah Challenge. Four chefs 
competed to see who could 
make the best crispy potato 
pancakes, succulent brisket and 
fried jelly donuts. The host is 
Molly Yeh, 31. The judges were 
Duff Goldman, 44, a famous 
pastry chef, and Sharone 
Hakman, 38, a well-known Los 
Angeles chef. There was only 
one live showing. However, 
catch it online and via on-de-
mand. 
 Last week, the Hallmark 
Channel pulled an ad featuring 
a lesbian wedding and, after a 
firestorm of protests, reversed 
itself and apologized. There 
wasn’
t a firestorm about two 
new Hallmark Channel original 
Chanukah movies that pre-
miered this month: Holiday 
Dates and Double Holiday. 
However, the films were so 
bad the New York Times and 
the Washington Post published 
long, scathing reviews. The Post 
called them “Christmas movies 
with Jewish characters” and 
said they “relied on anti-Semitic 
tropes.” The NYT was only a 
little kinder. Both thought Holiday 
Date was particularly egregious. 
The premise is that a woman 
hires a Jewish actor to play her 
boyfriend and join her at her 
family’
s house for Christmas. 
The NYT says it’
s absurd that he 
knows nothing about Christmas. 
They said his “sneaky” role fits 
anti-Semitic stereotypes. 

Arts&Life

celebrity jews

 
NATE BLOOM
COLUMNIST

A scene from 1917, a film co-written 
and directed by Sam Mendes

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