Technologically the film is a marvel, especially when the production history is taken into account. Allen wanted the film to appear genuinely from the period, and the footage shot was reportedly captured on equipment used during the 1920s. Even more astonishing is the manner in which Allen and other cast members were smoothly integrated into old photographs and film footage, some with distinguished historical figures, years before the advent of seamless digital techniques and over a decade before a similar strategy was used in FORREST GUMP. The setting and the aim for verisimilitude allow Allen to explore one of the most serious themes of his career: the assimilation of Jews and other immigrant groups into American culture, although the subject is still tempered by his intelligent verbal wit (for example, the voiceover explains: "As a boy, Leonard Zelig is frequently bullied by anti-Semites. His parents, who never take his part and blame him for everything, side with the anti-Semites"). Allen sees this desire for assimilation as a necessary part of cultural inclusion, but recognizes its dangers, as being a "Chameleon Man" seems only one step away from outright fascism.