American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein

American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein is a 2009 documentary film about the life of the American academic Norman Finkelstein, directed and produced by David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier. The documentary features Finkelstein and several of his supporters and opponents, including Noam Chomsky and Alan Dershowitz.

Reception

The film made its world premiere in Chicago as part of the 2009 IFP Chicago Underground Film Festival and won the audience choice award for best documentary. It was a part of the Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA in Amsterdam and Hot Docs in Toronto. It won the Cinema Politica Audience Award in 2010. Jerusalem Film Festival describes the work of the filmmakers as: “the most talked-about documentary films of the last months, a fascinating portrait that confidently walks that tightrope known as balance…” The film had its television premiere on Yes Television in Israel in May 2010. In April 2011 the film aired on Al Jazeera English worldwide and in the US on Link TV and selected PBS stations.

Reviews

In February 2010 the film opened in New York and received 100% freshness ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, using data from 222 ratings and 11 reviewers. Despite the many controversies surrounding the main subject, Norman Finkelstein, major national Jewish publications such as The Jewish Daily Forward, Jewish Week and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reviewed the film favorably. According to the distributor's website, the film has also received endorsements from personalities like Mark Achbar, Michael Moore and others like author and historian Charles Glass and Canadian born actor Saul Rubinek. The film was invited to join the collection of the Oscars's Library in June 2010.

American Radical is the probing, definitive documentary about Jewish-American political scientist Norman Finkelstein.

A devoted son of holocaust survivors, an ardent critic of Israel and US Middle East policy, Finkelstein has been steadfast at the center of many intractable controversies, including his denial of tenure at DePaul University.

Called a lunatic and self-hating Jew by some and an inspirational street-fighting revolutionary by others, Finkelstein is a deeply polarizing figure.

From Beirut to Kyoto, the filmmakers follow Finkelstein around the world as he attempts to negotiate a voice among both supporters and critics.

About the life and work of controversial American Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein.

A devoted son of Holocaust survivors and ardent critic of Israeli foreign policy, the polarizing American political scientist and author Norman Finkelstein has been called a lunatic and self-hating Jew by some, and an inspirational revolutionary by others. Exploring the deeply complex issues at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, American Radical is the insightful and enraging documentary that follows Finkelstein around the world as he attempts to negotiate a voice among impassioned critics and supporters. Uncompromising even in the face of his recent denial of tenure at DePaul University, Finkelstein is a complex and supremely lonely figure whose self-destructive nature often undermines his academic credibility. A guaranteed argument starter, this potent documentary plunges viewers into the psychological and intellectual underpinnings of a vitriolic personality.