Halfway through watching Kevin Asch’s debut film “Holy Rollers,” I realized that I didn’t really care about the drug deals.

I’m supposed to care about them, of course. But the plot, based on the true story of a small group of Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn who become involved in an Israeli drug cartel, is really about an insular world few get to see. I cared far more about the first half of the movie, an incisive, funny, well-documented picture of the Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn in the 1990s.

The story revolves around Sam Gold, a young man facing his impending arranged marriage and entry into Rabbinical school. But he is sidetracked by the lure of money, flashed by his best friend’s older brother Yosef, who says he has a job bringing “medicine” into the country for rich people. When his marriage falls through due to his family’s bad finances, he decides to make some extra cash. In keeping with the good-boy-gone-bad storyline, Sam quickly gets in over his head selling what he learns is not medicine but grade A ecstasy.

Asch has an eye for details in the early scenes of Sam’s life, from the way the Gold men have to turn the stove on with a pair of pliers, to the immaculate home of Zeldy Lazar, the girl Sam is set to marry. I don’t know if Asch is from a Hasidic background, but he seems to intimately understand how insular communities can be both suffocating and comforting in equal measure. As Sam enters the murky world of the 90s club scene, he becomes both ambivalent to his faith yet still strangely grasping for it. Eisenberg has real poetry in his performance, playing Sam as a mensch, but still very much a vain, ignorant child.

The drugs, the raves in Amsterdam, the deals with dark, terrifying people in abandoned warehouses seem like carnival novelties, a cut-in from another film set on fast-forward. They’re beautiful scenes, but generalized. They could be from any film about drugs, and the latter part of the movie is sloppily edited. The end especially is too hastily done; I’m reasonably certain Asch simply didn’t know how to end it.

It really is a great story; the whole point of using Hasidic Jews as drug mules is that the TSA circa 1999 would never check them. It’s also a story of a family and a community. I just wish the drug deals had been a little more… exciting.

I just got back from a screening of the film “My Name is Khan”, a Bollywood movie about a man with Asperger’s Syndrome who, after his son is killed by a group of anti-Muslim teens, goes on a mission to tell the president “My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist.” Yes some of it was far-fetched and strange, but then again, it is an Indian movie, and our movies tend to be a bit eccentric.

There are many scenes in the film that show the plight of the Islamic-American post-9/11. Shops are vandalized, men are beaten and some Muslims and non-Muslims even take to changing their appearances and names so they can better assimilate into the post-9/11 American society.

The movie really got me thinking about how North Americans treat minorities, especially those who follow Islam, and those who, to the untrained or ignorant eye, look like they follow Islam. I’m talking about brown people. Maybe it’s not easy to tell where a brown person is from. I wouldn’t know, because I can tell pretty easily, since I am one. But I’ve been asked if I’m Iranian, Afghani, Pakistani, Jordanian, and in one odd case, Italian. That last one made no sense. None of the guesses, by the way, offended me in any way.

I am, ancestrally, from India. Does that make me Muslim? Hindu? Jewish? Christian? Does it matter? No. So, I’m not going to tell you. But what does matter is the attitude some of the residents of the U.S. and Canada take toward minorities that look Muslim.

Of course, not all of either country is anti-Muslim. I’d wager that only a small percentage of people in both countries harbor real, genuine hateful feelings towards Muslims. Some of these people think jihad, bombs and death are the primary teachings of the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran does not advocate killing, but verses taken out-of-context lead some to believe it does. Verses taken out of context from other religious books, be they from the Hindu faith or the Christian faith, can also give people the wrong idea of the religion. That’s why people say education leads to understanding, because a lack of education leads to ignorance.

Anyway, after the movie I came home, logged on to Twitter, and searched the word “Muslim”. I came across a few prejudice tweets. Below is a conversation between two women that I found interesting:

@caitebeth: “Why do we have Obama as president? I mean, really. Don’t tell me he’s not a Muslim. I won’t believe you.”

@rawrxmaggie: “@caitebeth He /isn’t/ Muslim. He’s Christian. And anyway, what’s wrong with being Muslim? Isn’t America all about freedom of religion?”

@rawrxmaggie: “@caitebeth Christianity is not the only religion. And Muslim people have the right to practice their religion.”

Why are people so vehemently attacking a man on the basis of his (perceived) faith? Like “@rawrxmaggie” says, who cares what faith he is? Isn’t the U.S. a land of freedom, freedom of religion, the right to be who you are anywhere, at all times? If someone is smart, capable, morally decent and kind, why can’t they rise to the top in any profession? Do they have to be smart, capable, morally decent, kind and Christian? No.

But wait, here’s more tweets from the “@caitebeth” brand of thinking. These are a bit more radical, though:

@brettcoulter: “SOME PEOPLE THINK HIS REAL NAME IS MOHAMMED. HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN SO THAT IS BELIEVABLE. HE’S A MUSLIM IN DISGUISE. RECORDS ARE HIDDEN”

@TexasRV: “This is United States of America not Communist, Muslim or Socialist nation. We r last hope 4 free world. God Bless America”

Apparently, to “@TexasRV“, Muslims can be equated with Communists and Socialists. Who knew?

I’m sure most of my readers are open-minded, accepting, kind people. I thank you for your lack of prejudice. For those who aren’t, I respect your views. I just don’t agree with them.

Am I Muslim? Hindu? Christian? Jewish? It doesn’t matter. So, I’m not going to tell you.

After an attempt on Adolf Hitler’s life, Glenn Berwin’s family and their property was seized along with many other Jews in Munich.

Berwin’s uncle owned two restaurants and a shop there. They were seized along with his World War I veteran’s pension.

“It seemed hopeless” Berwin said in a statement Monday. “I thought the odds were insurmountable. You have to be clever to outsmart people who want to hold onto money they stole.”

Attorney Dan Holloran, a New York City Council candidate said he didn’t think the situation was so hopeless. Halloran , a partner at the law firm Palmieri and Castiglione, LLP, was determined to help.

“I wasn’t going to take “Ëœno’ for an answer” Halloran said. “Glenn has a right to this property. The Nazis never did.”

Halloran is pursuing a legal case to recover money taken from Berwin’s relatives who were killed or imprisoned by the Nazis. He used a federal court decision that accessed the record of World War I pensions.

“If we find specific names and time periods, we can get their pension records” Halloran said. “Courts have been throwing these cases out. I hope this will open the door for others with these kind of claims.”

Berwin, a retired supermarket employee who lives in Whitestone, Queens said he was friends with Halloran from the neighborhood.

“I knew him from karaoke on Bell Boulevard in the early “Ëœ90s” Berwin said, laughing. “He’s a great singer.”

According to a statement released by Holloran, Berwin’s father spent two months in Dachau in 1939 before he was granted immigration to the United States. He hopped on the “last boat leaving Holland.” His father was the only survivor on that side of the family. More than 20 members of Berwin’s family were killed in the Holocaust.

“Jewish people should know that they are entitled to pursue their legacy” said Berwin. “The legacy of my people should be with my family and not with the sons of people who commited crimes against them.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition lashed out against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Monday, saying his policies and advisors posed threats to Israel and American Jews.

“Sen. Barack Obama surrounds himself with a number of individuals and advisors who are hostile to Israel and American Jews,” the coalition said in‚ a statement. “They include Zbigniew Brzezinski, General Tony McPeak and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. All are known for their anti-Israel views.”

Jeremiah Wright’s name gets mentioned again and again in this election.

They also say Obama voted against legislation to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization and‚ ”his willingness to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad without any preconditions,” echoing a popular John‚ McCain sentiment.