I'm glad that Hitchens is pointing out what has worried me about this film, though. Namely, how is this film going to be seen in other countries? Here in the U.S., where there's both a strong religious sentiment and extremely little history of real, violent, anti-semitism, the film's not going to do much to inflame things, and it will well serve a large audience.
But how is it going to be seen in Germany, in Poland, in Russia, in France, countries with long histories of anti-semitism and regular additions to that history? Will it be used as a tool by those forces, as it could be, especially when it comes out on DVD and VHS, and anyone can cut their own version to highlight an agenda.
I'm not saying that Mel shouldn't have made the movie. He should make whatever he wants, just like I should be able to make a movie that's two hours of a child being raped and tortured in front of her parents in a Baghdad basement. That one would probably do some people some good, too. But I can't be surprised when I learn other people are watching it with a different state of mind.