Leon the Pig Farmer

When even Woody Allen seems to have given up making overtly Jewish movies, Leon is a novelty. OK, some of the comedy borders on stereotype, but, I can tell you from experience, it's still true. The confusions of identity, culture, heritage etc are a ready source of sardonic wit. And it's not just a film for Jewish people either - anybody with experience of cultures centred around insane families will appreciate it. In my circle, Indians, Italians and the Irish seem to have a particular affinity. On a sadder note, the film features mark Frankel, whose untimely death was potentially a major loss to the Brit industry.

Very enjoyable, funny, quirky and a little odd. All in all an entertaining way to waste an hour and a half or so. It's starting to look a little dated however, this does not detract from what is a very entertaining film. There are a lot of films brit flicks that are more highly rated and nowhere near as good.

You can leave the Church of England altogether; Catholics lapse, but remain in some senses Catholic; and you're always a Jew. On this basis, there may be thought be to some good ground for comedy in a film about a Jewish man, who, while in the midst of a general life-crisis, discovers that on top of all his other problems, his true father is a Yorkshire pig-farmer! Unfortunately, this is an almost embarrassingly amateurish movie. It has no idea of how to handle a storyline, while both realism and belly-laughs are eschewed in favour of a half-hearted stylisation that never even manages to convey a mood, let alone find a comic vein. Moreover, in a huge number of scenes, the natural object of our attention is off-camera: in some cases, that's because the object cannot be filmed, but whether the other cases are explained by directorial preference or incompetence I wouldn't like to say. A clumsy and anaemic film, you won't miss much if you don't see it.

Jewish guilt is not a topic that I see portrayed much in movies, but "Leon the Pig Farmer" does a good job with it. Leon Geller (Mark Frankel) is a Jewish estate agent in London who one day discovers that he was the product of artificial insemination; his real father is a pig farmer. Going off to meet his "other" family, Leon has more than a few surprises! They did an interesting job here. True, non-Jews might not get all the jokes, but it's funny nonetheless. And I guess that we sometimes forget that there ARE Jews in England. Anyway, you might see if you can find this movie. You'll probably like it.

Oh, and by the way, that one character was played by Burt Kwouk (Kato from the "Pink Panther" movies).

Poor Leon discovers a past that goes against everything that is Jewish. It takes a while for the story to kick start but once you get going, you fall into the flamboyance of the humour, enjoying the belly laughs, and maybe the dish as well.