Ratatouille
Ruhlman mentioned in his newsletter that Ratatouille remains the most accurate picture of a fine-dining kitchen. Having a 15-hour flight, I watched it again. It’s great.
The subtext of the film is a family debate among the rats. The kids are interested in people; in particular, one of the boys is fascinated by cooking. The father warns them that people simple cannot be trusted: that unfortunate and unfair, but that is also the way the world is.
When I saw this in 2007, I thought this was just generational conflict. But it’s not: the rats are meant to be read as Jews, the hero, young Remy, is a Jew Out Of Water, and his father’s warning is simply that you will never belong. When Father relents, it is only because Remy has no choice; if he is to cook, he must live among the gentiles and, while that is terribly dangerous, Father understands in the end that Remy has no choice.
Now that overt anti-semitism is once more part of mainstream-ish politics, it’s obvious.