The Ben Affleck and Matt Damon movie theyd never…
Thirty-five years in the past, a movie crew descended on my high faculty, Worcester Academy.
Trailers stuffed with cameras and costumes arrived at the end of the summer time before my sophomore 12 months to shoot a movie about a prep faculty set in the Fifties. Apparently, our fitness center and pool, unrenovated for many years, have been excellent for the vibe. A few of my classmates even bought to be extras.
When I noticed “School Ties” in theaters the next 12 months, the setting appeared recognizable, but the scenes of rampant antisemitism couldn’t have felt more international. Watching the movie again with my daughter a few weeks in the past, however, they have been sickeningly acquainted.
B. Fraser, clockwise from middle, R. Batinkoff, A. Lowery, A. Rapp, C. O’Donnell, B. Affleck, C. Hauser and M. Damon are shown in the 1992 movie “School Ties.” ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
“School Ties” — which starred Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris O’Donnell — is the story of a Jewish high-school quarterback, David Greene, from a working-class Scranton household. He’s recruited to save an elite prep faculty’s failing soccer staff from defeat at the arms of its rival. David, who’s performed by Fraser, decides with the implicit encouragement of the coach that he ought to keep his Jewish identification to himself. Early in the movie, he takes off his Star of David necklace and hides it in his top drawer — subtlety isn’t one of the movie’s strengths.
Dexter Hall is pictured at Worcester Academy on Friday, October 29, 2004. Hannes Röst/ Wikipedia
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Within hours of his arrival, David hears one of his classmates use the phrase “Jew him down” to imply getting a better price for one thing. Some boys marvel how another one may select Harvard instead of a different Ivy League faculty given the large quantity of Jews there.
When there may be a soccer sport on Rosh Hashanah, David doesn’t inform anybody despite the fact that his father instructs him over the telephone to go to synagogue. He dons his tallis and yarmulke and goes to pray by himself in the chapel late that night time; the headmaster finds him and lectures him about “you people.”
Matt Damon and Brendan Fraser seem in a scene from the 1992 movie “School Ties.” ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Eventually, Charlie Dillon (performed by Damon) learns from an older alum about David’s secret. Charlie, who has been supplanted on the staff by David, seizes this info. He begins telling Jewish jokes in the bathe and then reveals to everybody David’s true identification. Hearing David called a “k–e” and a “sheeny bastard” in 1992 was fairly actually the first time I recall those phrases spoken aloud. And when David finds a flag with a swastika and the phrases “Jew Go Home” hung over his mattress, I keep in mind pondering these people may as nicely live on a different planet.
What a distinction 35 years make. It is true that I grew up at a time that people now refer to as “the golden age” of Jews in America. My own prep faculty class was in all probability about a quarter Jewish. I assumed that antisemitism was a downside of the past, not one thing I, let alone my kids, would have to confront.
A flag with a Jewish star, New York University branding, and a swastika is seen flying atop the NYU Steinhardt Building, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. The banner was raised above the NYU building named after a billionaire donor to Jewish causes during a commencement week event. CBSNews New York
But right here we’re. Antisemitic slurs are a common function of discourse on the fitting and the left. hostility crimes against Jews have skyrocketed. A flag with the Star of David and two swastikas was raised on a building over NYU in May.
Perhaps the most stunning half of watching “School Ties” today is realizing that not too long in the past, Hollywood’s greatest stars have been prepared to lecture the American public about the ignorance of antisemitism. Don’t inform Maggie Gyllenhaal, who not too long ago explained in a press convention how Israelis waging warfare in Gaza are perpetrating another Holocaust.
Maggie Gyllenhaal attends the “Bunker” screening during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival at Sala Grande in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, September 8, 2026. GIorio / SplashNews.com
When Charlie is being pushed away from faculty after being expelled for violating the respect code — one thing he tries to get the other college students to consider that David did — he shrugs it off. “In 10 years no one will remember any of this. But you’ll still be a goddamn Jew.” David replies, “And you’ll still be a prick.”
These days, it’s laborious to think about Hollywood giving any Jewish character the ethical high ground. The protests alone would make headlines for weeks.
I used to be fortunate to grow up in a bubble protected from the world’s oldest hatred. My kids will never know that world. The bubble has burst. There’s no going back.
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