c. 2003 Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES (RNS) Jews in Hong Kong love America’s latest superhero, the man dubbed “the baddest Heeb this side of Tel Aviv,” in the new comedy film “The Hebrew Hammer,” which debuts in theaters the day before the Dec. 19 start of Hanukkah. “They have 4,000 Jews in Hong Kong; people seemed to love it,” said filmmaker Jonathan Kesselman, whose Jewish “Hammer” superhero was well-received at late November’s Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival. In Israel too, Kesselman said, “they loved it _ an (expletive)-kicking Jew in a country of (expletive)-kicking Jews.” At special film screenings, Jewish audiences have warmed to this Orthodox Jewish superhero who machine-guns a bar full of neo-Nazis while yelling, “Shabbot Shalom, (expletive)!” Kesselman’s “Hebrew Hammer” is a Jewish action hero spoof of the classic “blaxploitation” films of the 1970s. Akin to Richard Roundtree’s New York detective in “Shaft,” the “Hebrew Hammer” is private detective Mordechai Jefferson Carver (Adam Goldberg), who like Shaft struts through Brooklyn’s Jewish “’hood” in a long, dark leather coat as young Jewish women gasp in awe and teenage Jewish boys are rescued from Gentile bullies. “I had seen a great many blaxploitation films,” said Goldberg. In a unique movie distribution plan, the low-budget “Hammer” premieres Dec. 8 on Comedy Central, which then will air “Hammer” three more times before the film debuts in New York, Los Angeles and Miami/Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 18. “Hammer” opens in other cities throughout December and January. Driven by Kesselman’s love of Mel Brooks’ films, “Hammer” does not take itself seriously; promotional taglines include, “Part man. Part street. 100 percent kosher,” and “He’s Not Bad, He’s Cha-baad.” The film’s closing credits state, “No animals or Gentiles were harmed in the making of this movie.” “Hammer” shows Carver and his sidekick/love interest Esther (Judy Greer) trying to save Hanukkah from the evil son of Santa Claus _ Damian Clause (Andy Dick). Former New York Mayor Ed Koch is in a “Hammer” scene originally written for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who passed on the cameo chance to play himself. When Carver realizes that Santa’s son is brainwashing Jewish children with free video copies of the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life,” he drives his Israeli flag-like, blue-with-white-interior Cadillac through Jewish neighborhoods and distributes free videos of “Yentl” _ all this as the audience hears “Pusherman,” the classic Curtis Mayfield tune from the 1972 film “Superfly.” “Jews are the new blacks,” said “Hebrew Hammer” executive producer Ed Pressman, whose long, maverick film-producing career includes 1987’s “Wall Street.” “Hammer” generously spoofs stereotypes and probably will offend the politically correct. Carver’s mother (Nora Dunn) is depicted as an annoying Jewish mother, Israel’s retail reputation for horrible customer service is mocked, and Kesselman shows a Black Panther-style group’s headquarters rich with weapons, women and weed. The writer/director said his superhero’s ultimate weapon is “the power of Jewish guilt. It’s the most powerful weapon in the Jewish arsenal.” At the Jerusalem Film Festival last June, a clash of Jewish cultures was evident between the event’s artsy organizers and Kesselman’s Orthodox Jewish relatives, who came to see “Hammer” from their West Bank settlement. “My uncle’s a settler; he’s got his gun on his side and a yarmulke on his head,” said Kesselman, who at 29 spent two years on “Hammer,” his first film. “Hammer” was shot on a $1 million budget in 22 days throughout New York. Unlike films shot in Brooklyn that had negative images of Hasidic Jews, “Hammer” enjoyed strong rapport with the local Hasidics, including some who appeared as film extras. His brother produced the film. Another brother is an airline pilot and their sister is a violist. The son of an IBM executive dad and schoolteacher mom, Kesselman studied neuroscience at the University of Colorado and earned a film graduate degree at the University of Southern California. His day job is being an information systems consultant at UCLA Medical Center. His new film script, he said, mocks men’s magazines. “I’m satirizing the whole Maxim culture.” German and Israeli film festival audiences, both used to extensive security precautions, found the film’s metal detector jokes significant. Jews at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival laughed too. “Of all the places in the world to be touchy about being Jewish, you would think they would be there,” Kesselman said. “And they got it. It was like an empowering movie. It’s still a big deal to be Jewish in Berlin. I’m a kid from L.A., and I liked that.” DEA END FINNIGAN