Quotes
“American Radical is a powerful film — brave, bold, incendiary. I highly recommend it!”– Michael Moore, award-winning documentary filmmaker
“American Radical is a nuanced and powerful portrait of the scholar Norman Finkelstein, one of the nation’s most courageous and embattled intellectuals. It is a reminder that mendacity and timidity, when in the service of conventional beliefs, are more highly prized in most universities that truth. It illustrates that those who unmask the lies of the intellectual elite swiftly become their victims. The power and subtext of this film, however, is not in the wars fought between Finkelstein and those like Alan Dershowitz who seek to destroy him, but in Finkelstein’s powerful fealty to his mother’s suffering in the Warsaw Ghetto and later the Nazi death camps. Finkelstein sees in all who are oppressed his mother’s degradation and pain. This is a movie that is, at its core, about the unshakable bond of love between a parent and a true and faithful son who refuses to forget or compromise.”-Chris Hedges, former New York Times War & Middle East Correspondent and author of “American Fascists”
“American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein’ is a cautiously respectful documentary portrait of a political firebrand who presents himself as a beacon of moral truth in the murk of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”-Stephen Holden, New York Times
“Surprisingly entertaining…a compelling portrait of a difficult man.”-Mark Cohen, The Jewish Daily Forward
“This deeply researched, probing film transcends politics and sociology: it’s a profoundly humanistic document about the roots and consequences of speaking your mind.”-Saul Rubinek, Canadian Actor/Director
“…delivers a high-octane dose of the most controversial man in America.”-Michael Fox, San Francisco Weekly
“…there are few such films as explosive and gripping as American Radical”-Steve Prokopy, Gaper’s Block
“Powerful work… This is a film that shines because it dares to articulate the key issues within the Jewish Diaspora…American Radical should be watched by people who care about the Middle East.”-Antony Loewenstein, “American Radical; a key film about Jewish questioning” author of My Israel Question
“While this tenure-challenged Middle Eastern studies professor is hardly pleasant cinematic company, it’s tough to look away.”-Gary Goldstein, LA Times
“Presents a humanizing portrait of a complex and principled individual…‘American Radical’ deserves to be seen widely as a fascinating introduction to the man and his views.”-Susan Ryan,
Cineaste Magazine Review of American Radical (.pdf) “David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier’s docu on Norman Finkelstein, “American Radical,” promises to prove as controversial as the man himself.”-Ronnie Schieb,
Variety Magazine Review “A fascinating, well-rounded portrait of Finkelstein that simultaneously informs, inspires and infuriates…the filmmakers ride a delicate line, assembling a warts-and-all portrait that shows why Finkelstein is deeply respected and equally reviled.”-Mark Achbar, director of ’The Corporation’ and ’Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media’
“With impressive restraint, the fascinatingly thorny ‘American Radical’ is less interested in the validity of Finkelstein’s ideas—seriously mounted, if inflammatory—and more in the topsy-turvy life of today’s professional academic. Amazingly, that choice doesn’t result in a boring movie.”-Joshua Rothkopf,
Time Out New York “A guaranteed argument starter…an engaging portrait of an academic whose work is both fueled and undermined by his vitriolic personality.”/span>-J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
“American Radical’…presents a more balanced portrait of Finkelstein, who, when his passion doesn’t carry him off on a wave of anger, is shown to be thoughtful, intelligent and deeply melancholy.”-George Robinson, The Jewish Week
“(Norman Finkelstein’s) conclusions can be debated, his methods can be deplored, but as (‘American Radical’ directors) Ridgen and Rossier take pains to point out, a man so rigorously committed to putting an end to oppression ought not be so easily dismissed, even if coming to grips with such a challenging figure may be finally as difficult as getting to the bottom of the Arab-Israeli conflict itself.”-Andrew Schenker,
Slant Magazine “A blood-boiling, very good documentary.”
-Mark Keizer,
Boxoffice Magazine
ridgenfilm 