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March 23, 2007
In between two worlds
Lost Jews, Palestinian prisoners seek comfort.
KELLEY KORBIN
This week, we review two more entries to the Vancouver International
Jewish Film Festival.
Searching Latin Jews
It's a story that has its roots in the 14th Century, when Sephardi
Jews were forced to convert to Catholicism and later expelled from
Spain by the Spanish Inquisition. Many of these Jews found their
way to South America, where they baptized their children as Catholics,
but still maintained some of the religious practices of their ancestors,
like lighting candles every Friday night.
These converts became known as "crypto-Jews." Now, some
of their descendants are looking to unearth their Jewish roots.
The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America tells the
story of a group of South Americans who, from the oral tradition
passed down from their parents and grandparents, believe they are
descendants of Sephardi Jews and who seek to reclaim their heritage
by converting to Judaism.
Set in Ecuador, the film follows three Colombian women and an Ecuadorian
couple who were unable to make inroads into their local Jewish communities
and finally found an American Reform rabbi through the Internet
who conducted a correspondence conversion class for them.
As a culmination to the class, the rabbi travels to Guayaquil to
meet these potential converts and attempts to facilitate the final
steps in their conversion process, including a mikvah, ritual
submersion, and a beit din, rabbinical court.
The converts' journey is paved with roadblocks, chiefly from the
local Jewish community, who are extremely skeptical about their
motives and about the religious legitimacy of their Reform rabbi.
Overall, the film is a bit dry and doesn't delve deeply enough into
the personal circumstances of the converts, but it successfully
highlights a range of complex and multi-faceted barriers to religious
freedom and the passion and commitment it takes to challenge them.
The Longing plays at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 25, at Fifth
Avenue and again at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, at the Vancity
Theatre.
The view from behind bars
At least 10,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails today.
Considered assassins and criminals to most Israelis, they are heroes
and freedom fighters to many Palestinians.
Set during the run up to the January 2006 Palestinian Authority
elections, The Hot House tells the story of these inmates
– Hamas and Fatah, women and men, would-be suicide bombers
and political prisoners. Moreover, Israeli director Shimon Dotan
gives us an intimate look into the political incubator the jails
have become.
The filmmakers were afforded unprecedented access to Beersheba,
Ashkelon, Hadarim and Megiddo prisons and the Palestinian prisoners
who live there, many of whom are serving multiple life sentences.
We are shown family visits, cell searches and the surprisingly civil
relationships between the inmates and prison staff. Much of the
footage is shot in the cells themselves where 12 inmates –
divided along political lines – live in very close, yet surprisingly
civilized and ordered circumstances.
And while some of the prisoners wear their horrendous crimes like
a badge of honor, as is the case of Ahlam Tamimni, a female Hamas
member who planned and executed the attack on Sbarro restaurant
in Jerusalem and who gives a frighteningly cavalier and remorseless
interview, the majority of those profiled come across as much more
philosophical and rational.
What is abundantly clear is that the dozens of years many of these
Palestinian prisoners are spending in Israeli jails are affording
them the time and the opportunity to become educated (many take
correspondence courses, in Hebrew, from Israeli universities), to
debate and to develop sophisticated and democratic leadership skills.
Just what kind of impact this burgeoning prison leadership is having
on Palestinian society as a whole remains to be seen.
Awarded a 2007 Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival,
The Hot House is a provocative and informative film. It is
skilfully shot and edited and challenges our notions about Palestinian
prisoners.
The Hot House is in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles
and plays at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 29, at Fifth Avenue.
The VIJFF runs from March 22 to April 1. For more information, visit
www.vijff.com.
Kelley Korbin is a freelance writer living in West Vancouver.
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