Amid a proliferation of antisemitic acts of terror in the United States — last month alone saw two Israeli embassy staffers shot dead in D.C. and 15 Jews burned, some severely, by a man wielding a makeshift flamethrower in Colorado — comes a controversial new thriller.
Guns & Moses presents a scenario where American Jews arm themselves and fight back.
Despite a jokey title, the trailer, debuting exclusively with The Hollywood Reporter, suggests a dead-serious and violent revenge story sure to enrage critics of Israel‘s deadly military campaign in Gaza — itself provoked by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas ambush that killed 1,200 Israeli civilians. Israel’s recent attacks on Iran and the potential of U.S. involvement in the conflict will only serve to heighten the controversy.
“This film is more than a story — it’s a conversation we need to be having,” says Guns & Moses director Salvador Litvak in a statement. “Every moment on set carried the weight of real lives at stake. Jews are under attack. When we say ‘never again,’ it means we need to step up and defend ourselves. And thank God we have allies in this fight. Moving toward release, we’re not just sharing a movie — we’re inviting audiences into a movement for security, partnership and responsibility around firearms.”
The thriller, which gets an exclusive theatrical release on July 18, stars a quartet of seasoned actors: Mark Feuerstein, 54, Neal McDonough, 59, Dermot Mulroney, 61 and Christopher Lloyd, 86.
Feuerstein plays Moses Zaltzman, a beloved Hasidic rabbi serving the small Jewish population of a desert town. The script is based on a 2019 incident at Chabad of Poway, an Orthodox synagogue in Poway, California, where a 19-year-old shooter entered on the last day of Passover and began firing. A 60-year-old woman was killed and three other people were wounded.
“When his congregation is violently attacked, police quickly arrest a young white nationalist who threatened them in the past, but Rabbi Mo thinks the troubled teen may be innocent,” according to a synopsis. “With no one else willing to investigate, Rabbi Mo becomes the detective, and as the bodies pile up, he must learn how to use a gun in order to battle the real enemy.”
Despite the Charles Bronson-goes-to-Yeshiva energy of the trailer, there may be more to the story than producers are letting on. “At the heart of the film is the unexpected bond between the rabbi and an antisemite,” reads the synopsis.
