Gibson's Got Our Number

Gibson's last big movie was an enormous success--due in part to Jews providing free advertising by criticizing his movie both before and during its release. So I suppose it's only natural that Gibson go back to a topic that is provactive to Jews.

ABC confirmed that it was working with Con Artists Production, headed by Mr Gibson, to produce a made-for-television epic based on the wartime experiences of Flory van Beek, a Jew who was sheltered from the Nazis in the Netherlands by her non-Jewish boyfriend and neighbours.

Once again, the same ingredients that made The Passion so successful are present. First the audience:

Christians who flocked to The Passion may similarly be drawn to this film because of its portrayal of all those non-Jews who protected Mrs Van Beek, said Daniel Sladek, a producer who first pitched the idea to ABC. "It is a tremendous nod to non-Jewish partisans, the citizens of Holland, who helped this couple, again and again, without any reason other than being human," he said.

Then, of course, the controversy. First there is Gibson's father, Hutton, who is a Holocaust denier. Then there is Gibson himself, who has never disavowed the views of his father:

Gibson, who is in Mexico making a film for Disney about Central America before the Spanish, tried to defuse the row, noting that some of his best friends "have numbers on their arms". He said: "Yes, of course. Atrocities happened. War is horrible. The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of them Jews in concentration camps." He also insisted that his father had never lied to him and Jewish groups said he had failed explicitly to disassociate himself from Nazi apologists.

The final ingredient is of course the Jews:

Leaders of Jewish groups are sceptical about Gibson's connection. "For him to be associated with this movie is cause for concern," said Rafael Medoff, director of the David S Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Pennsylvania, and the author of an annual study of Holocaust denial.

The best advice is that which is being offered by an executive at ABC:

"Shut up and wait to see the movie, and then judge," Taylor, who oversaw ABC's Emmy-winning miniseries "Anne Frank," told Variety. "I'm not about to rewrite history. I'm going to explore an amazing love story that we can all learn from and, hopefully, be inspired by."

As recounted in the 1998 memoir "Flory: Survival in the Valley of Death," Van Beek and her husband survived the sinking of their ship as they tried to flee Holland, then three years of hiding during the German occupation.

While I generally do not derive my inspiration from TV movies, Taylor is of course correct. There really is nothing to be served by giving more free advertising to the project. We already know from past experience that the movie will go on regardless of what we say. It will be described by the critics as moving and sensitive and inspirational.

Let's just go about our business and let Gibson and ABC make their money in peace.

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