The movie "Exodus" (1960), based on Leon Uris's book of the same name, is the saga of a ship laden with Jewish European refugees sailing to British-ruled Palestine, and the story of the Zionist struggle against the British up to the beginning of the 1948 war between the Arabs and the Jews.
Because of the movie's popularity - it broke all box office records in the United States after "Gone with the Wind" - and the way it portrayed historical events, "Exodus" changed history in a number of ways. The film's plot ingredients and their sequence diverge significantly from what really happened.
"Exodus" had an enormous influence on the presentation of history, but Paul Newman is no substitute for a history teacher. This documentary by Deutsche Welle tells the complex story of how the state of Israel was founded – a story that lies at the heart of the violence and conflict in the region to this day.
If you're interested in a balanced and informed opinion about the current situation, you could do worse than read the FOREIGN AFFAIRS webpage.
