Movie review
September 4, 2025 · 98 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Eleanor the Great features visible diversity casting with biracial Black actress Erin Kellyman as the young Jewish journalism student Nina and Black actor Chiwetel Ejiofor as her father in an explicitly Jewish family and Holocaust survivor story world. The core narrative follows 94-year-old Eleanor claiming her dead friend’s Holocaust survival stories as her own out of grief while forming a friendship with Nina. Jewish identity surfaces only through historical Holocaust memory and personal loss with no modern activist spin or identity politics lectures. No political dialogue or cultural critiques of patriarchy, capitalism, or Western institutions appear anywhere.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Eleanor the Great.
Woke representation / casting
Biracial Black actress and Black actor cast as Jewish family in Holocaust survivor and Jewish identity story world creates clear audience-visible ethnic mismatch.
Woke political dialogue
No activist or political dialogue reported.
Identity-driven story themes
Jewish identity limited to historical Holocaust memory and personal grief; no modern activist identity messaging.
Western institutional / cultural critique
No modern activist critiques of patriarchy, toxic masculinity, capitalism, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No backlash claiming too woke or identity politics; complaints unrelated to wokeness.
Creator track record context
No relevant prior work cited.
Production
