An epic film history of Israel Rabbi's homecoming celebrates the première of his latest documentary.

Pat Johnson Reporter

The photo op in the White House garden in 1993 brought hope to a war-weary generation. Bill Clinton, the beaming U.S. president, with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, signing a piece of paper that, we know now, meant little in the greater scheme. This was the opening scene chosen for Moriah Films' latest venture, In Search of Peace: Part One: 1948-1967, which was shown in Vancouver Monday night.

The film was completed before the latest round of violence erupted in the Middle East and, though it might have seemed to represent a sort of naïveté on the part of the filmmakers (and international observers at large), in fact, these images of hope illustrated the intractability of the Middle East situation and underscored the fleeting nature of the peace referred to in the title. The film, which covers the first two decades of Israel's history, was produced by Moriah Films, the cinematic division of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles. Narrated by some of Hollywood's top actors, including Michael Douglas, Ed Asner, Anne Bancroft and Richard Dreyfuss, the feature-length documentary animates the intense drama of the time.

Hier, founder and dean of the Wiesenthal centre, was in Vancouver to introduce the film and spoke of his organization's commitment to address present generations in the medium they know best. He said the goal of Moriah Films is to document, in the most accessible way possible, the 3,500-year history of Jewish civilization. Though Simon Wiesenthal himself is most closely associated with Nazi-hunting, the organization that bears his name has a broader mandate as a general human rights group and education facilitator about Jewish history and issues.

In Search of Peace uses rarely seen film footage to tell of the intrigue at various points in the Jewish state's first years, including the manner in which Golda Meir was sent on a hugely successful fund-raising mission to North America then found herself out in the cold when David Ben-Gurion announced his first cabinet. Many people may not be aware that, in 1948, Ben-Gurion's forces were concerned that the Irgun, led by Menachem Begin, would attempt a coup in the new state. In a rare moment, Jews were forced to fight Arabs on one hand and Jews on the other. The film includes the Israel Defence Force's bombing of the Irgun ship filled with armaments in Tel-Aviv harbor.

A humorous aspect of the film - and of Israeli history in general - is that, despite the various factional schisms in the body politic, it seems as though everyone eventually gets a chance to be prime minister. Ben-Gurion, Levi Eshkol, Meir, Rabin, Begin, Yitzhak Shamir, Shimon Peres - All of these people were around at the beginning and eventually rose to the top spot.

Of course, parts of the film are grisly. The Arab siege and liquidation of kibbutz Kfar Etzion is a grotesque reminder of the martyrdom of some of the early pioneers.

Hier spoke to the Bulletin before the screening, reminiscing about the 15 years he spent in this city as assistant rabbi, then rabbi of Schara Tzedeck synagogue. In fact, he credits Vancouver as the "genesis" of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre; it was while serving here that he had the inspiration for the centre. Several of the major benefactors come from Vancouver, including the Diamond family and foundation, the Wosk family and Sydney Belzberg, all of whom Hier acknowledged at the event, which took place at the Norman Rothstein Theatre.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1979, Hier and the centre have won two best documentary feature Academy Awards - the first for Genocide, in 1981, and the second for the 1997 The Long Way Home. Richard Trank, screenwriter and director of the film, joined Hier at the evening screening. The noted historian Sir Martin Gilbert worked on the film's structure and script planning.

The morning after the screening, work continued for Hier, Trank and Moriah Films' crew. Tuesday was the first day of filming on the centre's next production, which is about Jewish resistance fighters during the Second World War. Local resident Leon Kahn is one of seven individuals to be profiled in the new film, which Hier said will illuminate a never-before-told chapter in Jewish history. Non-Jewish underground operatives like Raoul Wallenberg and Oskar Schindler are more well-known than their Jewish compatriots, he said. The second part of In Search of Peace will go into production next year, probably carrying the historical thread up to the 1995 "peace agreement," said Trank.

The film was presented in Vancouver by the Canadian office of Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which was represented here by Leo Adler, the Toronto-based director of national affairs. The Canadian arm has been screening the film across Canada as part of an effort to raise the group's profile in the country. Friends of the Simon Weisenthal Centre is planning to play a larger role in human rights and education issues in Canada and recently met with a string of federal cabinet ministers to discuss concerns over the potential highjacking of an international conference against racism by developing world nations with an anti-Semitic agenda.

Expanding on Hier's description of the centre as more than a Nazi-hunting organization, Adler said his goal as national director for Canada is to make the issues taken up by the Canadian branch more relevant to Canadians.

In Search of Peace is doing the film festival circuit and has been selected to open this year's Hollywood Film Festival. It will go into theatrical release later and should be available on video sometime in 2002.

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