Review of "Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer"

A strange, uncomfortable film. It's a US-Israeli collaboration, but as I watched it I couldn't help thinking that this was the sort of feature film that anti-semitic conspiracy theorists would make if they had any sophistication. Richard Gere plays Norman, a sort of luftmensch lobbyist. He's not exactly shabby, but he manages to convey that impression. He has no background, no context, no family or friends - just his work as a fixer, brokering his tenuous relationships for cash and influence. He strikes up a relationship with a rising Israeli politician by buying him an expensive pair of shoes, and then uses that relationship to develop more links to business people. It's pretty clear that what he is doing is both immoral and illegal, but he has no compunction about it, though he does have a very strong sense of loyalty to the people in the network of relationships - most of all to the Israeli politician, who ends up becoming a peace-oriented Prime Minister whose enemies use his connections to the fixer as the basis for accusations of corruption.

There are several scenes of Norman in a synagogue, listening to a choir or talking the rabbi - about donations and benefactors, of course. There's something unattractive about this, though it's hard to put a finger on what it is. The film ends with Norman demonstrating that he has his own moral code of loyalty (to his friends, to Judaism and Israel) and remains true to it, even it's not the same as everyone else's. It's also made clear that he isn't motivated by personal gain or wealth for himself, which he seems not to have or want.

It's well acted and good to look at it, and interesting - but not what I could call enjoyable.

Watched at the Phoenix in East Finchley at what seems to have been a special showing - no ads, no trailers, and I don't think the film is on general release.