a 1990 film by Robert Mandel, starring a young cast of now famous names - Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Cole Hauser, Amy Locane, and others. Set in the 1950s, ‘School Ties‘ addresses the prevalent antisemitism in the USA. But it could as easily be about discrimination anywhere and about the social pressure to ‘fit in‘, the urge to be false to one‘s ideals and beliefs in order to be appreciated by one‘s peers.

　　David Greene (Brendan Fraser) is a Jewish kid from the wrong side of the tracks – Scranton, Pennsylvania – who just happens to excel at American Football. This skill gets him a full scholarship to an exclusive New England Prep School and thereby a one in a million chance to get into Harvard. ‘School Ties‘ is about the year he spends with the privileged kids, his initially successful if misguided attempts to be included in the popular crowd, and then the discrimination that follows when they discover that he is, after all, a Jew.

　　The issue of antisemitism is shown right at the start when David, who‘s at the local teen hangout to say goodbye to his friends, gets taunted by a member of a rival gang. He asks David‘s friend if he doesn‘t care that it were the Jews that killed Jesus Christ; the friend shrugs and replies, no, never knew the chap. This scene was probably intended to both show that David‘s friends like him for himself and that antisemitism is something he is accustomed to. But, given the filthy remark David first made regarding the other fellow‘s sister, I got the feeling that his taunt was more in response to that than over any great concern about religion.

　　David wins the ensuing fist-fight, but, bloodied and bruised, is late in picking up his father at his mill. His fond and exasperated father ticks him off – getting into a fight today of all days – what kind of an impression will he make at the new school? - does he want to lose this chance of bettering his life? David is angry enough to say he wouldn‘t care, and