AJFF Intro: Soros

To prepare you for 21st year of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, completely virtual-for-the-first time as you’ve never seen before, we bring you 21 previews spotlighting the breath of films offered for your home viewing. The films, which represent more than half of those in the AJFF lineup Feb. 17-28, include classics, intimate family dramas, upbeat comedy and historic documentaries. Sit back and relax as the AJFF brings us together through film.

Last summer the Anti-Defamation League analyzed thousands of tweets deemed anti-Semitic. According to the ADL – the more than 100-year-old anti-hate organization – nearly 40 percent of all the “problematic tweets” contained conspiracy theories involving George Soros. These included allegations that Soros funds Black Lives Matter and Antifa protests, as well as being responsible for spreading COVID-19.

Indeed, Soros has long been blamed for leading a “globalist” takeover of the world. On one level, this is not surprising since Soros is one of the world’s richest men, making his billions as a hedge fund owner during Europe’s currency crisis in the early 1990s. But calling this Hungarian-born child survivor of the Holocaust a Nazi collaborator, as the ADL reports some anti-Semites do, may be taking it too far.

Learning about both the charges against Soros as well as the facts of his life makes seeing this film required viewing for the entire Atlanta Jewish community.

“Soros” is admittedly a positive presentation of the nearly 90-year-old man, but it’s also thorough and extremely well produced. It was directed by Jesse Dylan, son of Bob, which is probably why he was able to access the Soros family and his inner circle and follow him around the world to learn how a Holocaust survivor became one of the biggest contributors and crusaders against authoritarianism and hate.

The film shows that Soros has a sense of humor and relishes controversy. “Having money gives you freedom and power,” he understates in one interview.

Soros is also self-reflective. He acknowledges his constant struggle to understand the world and make it a better place, including supporting COVID relief efforts around the world, tikkun olam. But he also acknowledges that “trying to improve the world is more difficult than making money.” He should know.

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