Kike Like Me examines Jewish identity
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
April 2, 2008
 Fed up with constantly being asked if he was Jewish based on his name and appearance, Toronto filmmaker and writer Jamie Kastner examines identity in his film, Kike Like Me. The film, which premiered at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto, shows Kastner traveling the world to find the meaning of being Jewish.
Kike Like Me has received criticism over the use of the derogatory name for Jewish people, but Kastner decided to go with it anyway. “Obviously it’s an ugly word. It’s a provocative title and it has offended some people and made some people shy away from seeing the movie. I think it’s also done what titles are supposed to do, which is to pique peoples’ interests,” said Kastner.
Kike did not begin as a derogatory term. While its exact origins are unknown, one intriguing theory is that the word is derived from kikel, the Yiddish word for circle.
“When immigrants came to Ellis Island, they didn’t want to fill out the forms using an X to tick the boxes, so they put a circle. The X connoted a cross for them,” explained Kastner. The Jewish immigrants refused to sign with an X because the symbol was associated with the cross of Christianity and the persecution they were trying to escape from. The term was an affectionate one between Jewish people and only became an insult later on.
Not impressed with the slur, the now defunct CHUM Limited insisted on changing the title to Jew Like Me.
“I debated it with them. To be fair, they had told me right from the beginning that they weren’t comfortable with the title and they made that clear in all our contractual dealings. I tried to persuade them otherwise at various stages of it and I didn’t succeed,” Kastner said.
Kastner believes kike still expresses the attitudes he encountered while filming, especially during the instances where he and his crew felt they were in danger.
“It was kind of shocking to me, even with all the research I had done, to be places even like Pat Buchanan’s house, not to mention the scene in the suburb of Paris where being identified as something, in this case Jewish, carried a definite sting,” explained Kastner.
Kastner encounters frightening hostility in Paris where a young Arab male says if Kastner is a Jew, “we don’t like you.” Pleas to consider him as an individual are ignored as the group lobs insults at him.
“Paris was where I and the crew felt we were in the greatest physical danger,” recalled Kastner.
“We were surrounded by a bunch of people who got very angry very quickly and certainly I was aware of the fact that on one hand the presence of cameras was not exactly helping to calm things down and on the other hand, it didn’t take much provocation to get everybody riled up. All that stuff was already churning away not that far below the surface. There was a point where those two guys I’m talking to at the end wanted me to come back and see where they lived and where they prayed and come deeper into their part of town and I just thought, no thanks,” Kastner said.
Kastner has also come under criticism for his treatment of Auschwitz. In fact, one of his own friends was unsure if he was anti-Semitic because of some comments in the film regarding the subject.
“One of her comments was that you couldn’t tell if I was an anti-Semite or not for some of the things I was saying and what right did I have to belittle something she might consider sacred?” he said. “I don’t think I’m belittling Auschwitz at all. I think my outrage in that section is precisely in reaction to what I see as the 'Disneyfication' of something that ought to be treated as a sacred burial ground,” Kastner continued.
The trip to Auschwitz shows tourists eating while wandering around the death camp, a hot dog stand prominently displayed outside, a scene that visibly disgusts Kastner.
Kastner hopes his film will inspire discussion and get people thinking.
“It’s a starting point for discussion. It’s by no means the last word on any number of topics it raises, least of all anti-Semitism or Holocaust memories and history,” he said. “I did it to provoke thought and discussion, so if they’re talking about it, great. It’s working.”
While filming, Kastner realized some disturbing things about identity.
“Whatever I feel about my identity doesn’t matter as much as other people, potentially my worst enemies, perceive me to be and what they have in mind when they ask ‘Are you Jewish?’ is sadly potentially more relevant to my life than whatever I may choose to answer,” said Kastner.
Beyond Kike Like Me, Kastner has a few projects in development. “One is called Do I Hate Stalin Enough? It’s in a similar style, the black comic road movie about what it means to be left-wing or right-wing nowadays. I have another project—well, I’ll leave it at that. I don’t want to give away all my good ideas. Let’s say the other one is called Nipple Nazis. If nothing else, I should have a career writing offensive titles,” Kastner quipped.
Kike Like Me will be screened at Moot Court in the University of Windsor Law Building, Thursday, April 3. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with the film beginning at 5:45 p.m. The event is presented by members of the Students’ Law Society. A question and answer session with Kastner will follow immediately after the showing.
For more information about Kastner and Kike Like Me, visit him online at http://www.cave7productions.com.
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