Babeled

A few years ago, “Beerfest” hit the cinema world as one of the funnier comedies to come around in sometime. The group, Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Club Dread), made this beer themed comedy and, as is usually the case, it did not disappoint. The premise of the movie is simple: The U.S. needs to beat the Germans at a beer drinking contest.

Jan (Paul Soter) and Todd Wolfhouse (Eric Stolhanske) play brothers that travel to Germany and mistakenly discover the wonderful event, known as “Beerfest”. After their guide is shot for revealing the location of this event, they get their butts kicked in beer drinking games against the Germans. Following their embarrassing loss, Jan and Todd also find out that they are related to Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen and he tells them that their great grandmother, Gam Gam, is a thieving whore, who stole the family recipe for the “greatest beer in all the world”. Adding insult to injury, Jan and Todd are chased out of “Beerfest” and they vow to come back to win against the Germans the following year. Returning to the states, the Wolfhouse brothers quickly organize a U.S. team compiled of their friends Landfill (Kevin Heffernan), Fink (Steve Lemme), and Badrinath (Jay Chandrasekhar). The following year the U.S. team returns to “Beerfest” and if it weren’t for Fink, the Germans would have won the day . . . again.

One of the games at “Beerfest” requires five players on each team to stand on one side of a table and basically compete to see who could drink the fastest. There are a total of five glasses for each team and the last glass is known as “das boot”. The game goes as follows: Each beer has to be drank, without spilling a drop, in sequential order. However, “das boot” is by far the most challenging to drink and it is left for last. What makes “das boot” so difficult is that it’s shape causes air to get inside the glass and causes the beer to rush out of the glass, resulting in spilling the beer and thusly losing the game. Thanks to a flushing urinal and Fink, Jan and Todd’s Jewish friend, the U.S. team realizes that in order to drink “das boot” without spilling a drop, they need to turn “das boot” before the air can cause the beer to rush out. However, Team USA loses to the Germans, due to foul play on the Germans part. Team USA challenges the Germans to a rematch, but this time every glass shall be “das boot”. The Germans happily accept and the glasses are filled.

Eye of the Jew

Upon lining up on each side of the table, the U.S. team puts their best drinker, Landfill, at the end of the table. The Germans begin to make fun of Fink and throw his yarmulke on the floor, causing him to get so angry that his eye is filled with the Star of David. Quickly realizing that Fink has the “eye of the Jew”, the team puts him at the end of the table to be the anchor for they know what the “eye of the Jew” is capable of. The game starts with the German team and the U.S. team going beer for beer, until each team gets to their anchor. Whereupon an inspired Fink defeats the best German drinker by picking up “das boot” and downing the entire beer in seconds. The scene is hilarious as I personally understand how effective the “eye of the Jew” can really be.

The “eye of the Jew” has no doubt been around for centuries and it is the reason that Judaism still exists today. Inspired by fear and anger, every Jew is capable of harnessing this super power to go against all odds and surprise all. Whether it is digitally killing and maiming people in Call of Duty 4 or making a touchdown catch or protecting their sovereignty, the “eye of the Jew” plays an important role in giving Jews all around the world the ability to win.