October 8

“October 8” is often at its strongest when Sachs touches on broader perspectives within her thesis.

The informative film calls attention to an important issue, but viewers should recognize that the perspective is one-sided.

The movie is hugely enlightening, if not solely for the reasons it means to be.

Without demonizing either side, it shows how Israel’s pattern of mistakes, if not arrogance, may have helped set a pot on the stove that is now boiling over with venom.

Like many advocacy documentaries, October 8 does some cherry-picking of facts and draws some questionable conclusions. But there’s no denying the importance of its message.

October 8 makes some compelling points whenever it isn’t flying off the rails.

Mainly, the subjects, and presumably the filmmakers, of both October 8 and The Encampments have a strident belief that most major institutions are against them and their cause.

Among a broad range of interviews, testimonies on the impacts of antisemitic verbal attacks in person and online include details by several American Jewish women that are the most impactful, esp. at U.S. colleges. But the conspiratorial evidence is thin.

October 8 should be required viewing for all college and university students and everyone who ever posted or reposted anything about Gaza and the conflict.

It's not very good or convincing as a piece of cinema, though its straightforward, flimsy form likely won’t matter when it’s preaching to the choir.