By Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO―Get ready movie mavens and meshugenahs for a cornucopia of cinema, delicatessen of documentaries, a feast of feature films, and a smorgasbord of shorts (you probably get the idea without the food metaphors) at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival running February 6-16. Although I have not viewed all the films―contrary to the common wisdom that all I do is watch movies since I retired―I’ve picked for “Laurie’s List” either films that I have seen or that have received much positive buzz. If some of my comments look familiar, it is because I plagiarized from my column on the top ten Jewish films of 2013 which appeared in the December 30th edition of the San Diego Jewish World.
Aftermath, Directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski (Poland, Russia, Netherlands: 2013). Franek, a Polish American from Chicago visits his brother Jozef in Poland to find out why his wife and child have left him. He gradually learns that Jozef has been ostracized by his fellow villagers for salvaging the Jewish tombstones used to pave a local road. This prompts Franek to investigate about what happened to these Jews during the Holocaust. Aftermath received five Polish Eagle Awards, including the one for Best Film, and the Yad Vashem Chairman Award from the Jerusalem Film Festival.
Before the Revolution, Dir: Dan Shadur (Israel: 2013). During the 1960s and 1970s, Israel maintained close economic, diplomatic, and military ties to the Shah’s regime in Iran. This documentary looks at the comfortable lives Israelis residing in Iran had before the Islamic Revolution turned their world upside down and why they were caught so off-guard.
Bethlehem, Directed by Yuval Adler (Israel, Belgium Germany: 2013). Bethlehem navigates the minefield of conflicting loyalties surrounding the relationship between an Israeli Secret Service officer and his teenage Palestinian informer. Bethlehem garnered nine awards from the Israeli Academy of Film and Television including those for best actor, director, and screenplay. Since its plot line overlaps with Omar, the Palestinian film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, it should be fascinating to compare and contrast the two films.
Brave Miss World, Directed by Cecilia Peck (Italy, Israel, South Africa, USA: 2013). If you have heard and seen Linor Abargil in the television interviews she gave last year, you already know she is articulate, beautiful, and courageous. In 1998 she was crowned both Miss Israel and Miss World. In the interim between the two pageants, she was brutally raped. Since then she has become a lawyer and has toured the world as a compelling advocate for rape victims.
Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy, Directed by Michael Kantor (US: 2013). Narrated by Joel Grey, this fascinating documentary examines the disproportionate roles Jews have played as composers of Broadway musicals and how Jewish music and themes have influenced the music and plotlines of this vibrant genre of theatre. If you didn’t catch this film when it was broadcast on PBS, you should take a see it during the film festival.
For a Woman, Directed by Diane Kurys (France: 2013). On this one, I defer to my friend and colleague Alyssa Sepinwall who will be introducing the film at the festival. She describes it as “a sweeping historical film and love story about a French woman reconstructing her parents’ life in postwar France. Both of them survived the Shoah, but their parents perished in it. They try to rebuild the French Communist Party and their own lives. This is a super film combining history, politics, romance, and family secrets.”
Generation War, Directed by Phillip Kadelbach (Germany: 2013). When broadcast in Germany last year, this miniseries tracking the fate of five ordinary Germans during World War Two sparked international controversy. Some critics felt it acknowledged the role of the Wehrmacht in the atrocities committed against Jews and other civilians on the Eastern Front; whereas others believed it exonerated the German soldiers by portraying them as victims of Hitler’s regime. Poles resented the portrayal of the mainstream Polish resistance as anti-Semitic. You can judge for yourselves, but beware that it runs over four and a half hours.
The Jewish Cardinal, Directed by Ilan Duran Cohen (France: 2013). Jean-Marie Lustiger converted to Catholicism in 1940. His mother perished in Auschwitz and his father never forgave his son for abandoning Judaism When John Paul II appointed him as the Bishop of Orleans and then Archbishop of Paris, the elevation of a Jew to those posts outraged conservative French Catholics. Lustiger defiantly declared his identification as a Catholic and a Jew. The Jewish Cardinal sensitively traces his rise to prominence with a focus on his role in negotiating the settlement between Jewish groups and the Carmelite nuns who established a convent at Auschwitz.
Sukkah City, Directed by Jason Hutt (US: 2013). Adhering to the halachic guidelines for building a sukkah,architects from around the world submitted designs for contemporary-looking sukkah. The winning proposals were eventually built and displayed at Union Square in New York. Hutt, an appropriate name if ever there was one, chronicles the competition and the construction of these temporary dwellings and demonstrates how a traditional form can be modernized.
Waling with the Enemy, Directed by Mark Schmidt (USA: 2014). Based on the true story of Elek Cohen, this film is about the vulnerable status of Jews in Hungary when Germany occupied Hungary in 1944 and pressured Admiral Horthy (played by Ben Kingsley) to escalate discrimination against Jews into genocide. Cohen feigned that he was an SS officer to save his parents and ended up rescuing many other Jews in the process.
Baron is a professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University. He may be contacted at lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com