Educational Media Reviews Online

This fascinating documentary shows more than Jehovah’s Witnesses going door to door. (That in itself is fun to watch, and of the three hours of extras included on this DVD, I enjoyed “street witnessing” the most.) It takes us into the private struggles of two families as they live out their faith. The story of Joseph, a holocaust survivor and convert from Judaism, sheds light on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ experience in Nazi Germany. His story becomes more absorbing when his long-distant Jewish daughter enters the picture. When she and her family accompany him and his wife to visit the concentration camps, they come to understand one another better.

We are also introduced to 23 year-old Seth, who goes door-to-door with his father. His story becomes gripping when we learn he will die without a liver transplant, but will not accept a blood transfusion, even if it’s his own blood stored in advance. His doctor calls all over to find a hospital that will risk a transplant without using blood. Since the possibility of failure is high, he will never get a liver, so his father decides to give part of his. Neither will accept blood.

Knocking is very well done. Its treatment of this religious minority is both sympathetic and honest. In the discussion guide that accompanies the DVD (a great feature in itself), we learn that Mr. Engardio likes Jehovah’s Witnesses in part because “they keep religion out of politics…they don’t vote.” Fortunately, this bigotry is muted in the DVD. One can only hope that this fine work will lead to more documentaries that promote understanding of the many religious groups in our midst-- even those that have the temerity to vote.

Highly Recommended