‘Re/Pair’ Review: David Schwimmer, W. Kamau Bell and Van Jones Lead Pragmatic Doc About the Past and Present of Black-Jewish Relations

The coalition between Blacks and Jews was integral to shaping 20th-century America, steering entertainment, sports and politics as two groups often “othered” within our cultural tapestry found power in unity. But where shared values and purpose led to joint fights against fascism and prejudice, events like the Crown Heights riots and the aftermath of the tragedies of October 7, 2023, exposed schisms.

The relationship has been so crucial to the identities of both groups and to our country that Henry Louis Gates Jr. produced Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History , which premiered on PBS in February of this year. It’s a great docuseries, though one that feels like it’s barely scratching the surface of this interwoven history in four hours. Related Stories Movies THR Returns to TIFF With Editorial Portrait Studio, Video Lounge and Live 'Awards Chatter' Recording With Penélope Cruz Movies Why Aura Entertainment Isn't Obsessed With Topping 'Obsession' Re/Pair The Bottom Line So-so as history, but a potent conversation-starter. Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF Docs) Director: Lacey Schwartz Delgado 1 hour 41 minutes

It’s no surprise, then, that Lacey Schwartz Delgado’s Re/Pair , a new 101-minute documentary premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival , feels important but short of essential.

If you haven’t seen the Gates series and don’t know the history of Blacks and Jews in America in any particular depth, Re/Pair offers only a faint whiff of that history, rushing through or eliding information that’s crucial to understanding and appreciating the surrounding issues. Watch the Gates doc first.

If, however, your foundational knowledge is sufficient, the conversations that Delgado stages will be a potent complement to that knowledge, illustrating the very human gaps that could be bridged if we were all smart, sensitive and forced to engage in debate in perfectly lit spaces with cameras rolling.

Delgado’s film begins with the Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “People fail to get along with each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they have not properly communicated with each other.”

Her approach, then, is to stage that communication with 19 paired dialogues, bringing together groups of Black and Jewish artists, pundits, spiritual leaders and more. Some of the pairs are longtime friends, some are former collaborators and others are just meeting for the first time, though I wish those parameters were more clearly acknowledged in each case.

The documentary’s title acknowledges both the format and the concept of Tikkun olam, the repairing of the world.

There are interview subjects whom everybody will know, including David Schwimmer and Harry Lennix, whose relationship dates back to their shared time at Northwestern, and many more who are generally known, including the likes of W. Kamau Bell , Robert Klein, Susan Orlean , Matisyahu and Van Jones (also an executive producer).