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November 6, 2009
The diversity of Jewish life
Film festival features a wide range of subject matter and styles.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
This year's Vancouver Jewish Film Festival has one of the stronger line-ups in the festival's history. The organizers have to be complimented for the number of quality films they are offering, as well as the wide variety. Not every film is a hit, but the vast majority have some redeeming value and are worth seeing. This issue of the Independent reviews seven films.
Two Lives Plus One is part of the festival's spotlight on Jewish France. It is one of the weaker submissions, but is somewhat saved by the cinematography and solid acting from the entire cast. The colors leap out from the screen and the family dinner scenes burst with life, but the storyline lacks any emotional draw.
On the surface, the film sounds interesting: a woman, smothered by her roles as school teacher, wife, mother and daughter only finds freedom – and success – through writing. The character of Elaine Weiss is never explored though and, while her motivations are stated, they are never communicated with feeling. For instance, in one scene, Elaine is writing alone in her living room, when, inexplicably, she gets up off the couch, muttering about the need for privacy, and heads to the bathroom to write, at which point, her husband and daughter do end up bothering her because they need to use the facilities. In another moment, Elaine tells her editor about her parents' supposedly magical love story, highlighting how they travelled by train to see each other, but not providing any other details of their life or describing their passion for each other. No emotional risks are taken in Two Lives Plus One and the film suffers greatly as a result.
On the flip side, Israeli director Naftaly Gliksberg takes great risks in Look Into My Eyes: Underlying Anti-Semitism, when he travels to Kelc, Poland, where his family once lived and where, less than a decade after the Second World War, 42 Jews were killed in a pogrom motivated by the blood libel. There, he witnesses a traditional Passion play being performed and interviews some of the locals, including a family with some Jewish heritage, whose kids are taunted horribly for that fact. He also heads to New York, West Virginia, Paris and Berlin and speaks with several unapologetic – and one or two apologetic – anti-Semites.
Unlike other recent documentaries that have treated this subject – Defamation, for example – Gliksberg shares part of himself with his interviewees and the audience. As an Israeli and a Jew, he is not afraid to challenge his subjects, but does so in a civilized, thoughtful manner. Look Into My Eyes is not a feel-good film, however, and it is scary to think about the amount of anti-Semitism that lies beneath the extreme limit that Gliksberg explores.
Also in the documentary realm, but unlike most others, is HAG: The Story of the Hasidic Actors' Guild, a strange film made by the founder of the guild himself, Yisrael "Izzi" Lifschutz. As a mix of fact and fiction, it is confusing at times and, though billed as a serio-comedy, the serious moments far outweigh the funny ones. However, the egocentric and eccentric "character" of Lifschutz is intriguing. He certainly has determination if nothing else and has created a career for himself as an actor and consultant on Chassidism for such diverse films as The Chosen and Pi. The skill with which the archival and behind-the-scenes footage are put together makes HAG very watchable and the fact that Lifschutz is scheduled to appear at the Vancouver screening is a reason to see it during the festival.
Letters for Jenny is a romantic drama about an Argentine family. The mother dies when her children are young, leaving letters for her husband to pass onto her daughter when she has her bat mitzvah, is married, has her first child and when she feels she has no options left. It is a chick flick, with tears guaranteed. The acting is excellent and the first half is very entertaining, but the last half of the film becomes predictable – albeit realistic – soon after Jenny sets foot in Israel and is met by a childhood friend, who moved to Israel from Argentina with his mother years earlier after his father died.
Another coming-of-age film that walks the line between original and mundane is Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger. Overall, it is charming, with a little of the quirkiness that many Australian movies possess. The acting is top notch, with Danielle Catanzariti as Esther leading the way with the help of a couple big names – Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) as Esther's rebellious new friend, Sunni, and Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine) as Sunni's unconventional mother.
Esther Blueburger is the typical misfit, the only Jew at her ritzy private school, but she has her endearing qualities and, through her friendship with Sunni, who goes to the local public school, Esther finds herself and her place within her own family and school. While the script almost succumbs to cliché – in movies, why is being cool synonymous with being mean? – it backs away and retains its uniqueness.
In a completely different way, Spring 1941 is unique: it is the first film about the Holocaust co-produced by Poles and Israelis. Shot on location in Lublin and based on Polish survivor Ida Fink's writings, it tells the tragic story of Clara Planck, a renowned cellist, who returns to Poland in 1971 for a concert, and to visit her former home and the farm where she and her family hid during the war, among other places. The film highlights the horrific choices that people had to make in order to survive the war and the brutality of which humanity is capable. It finds its compassion in the sacrifices Clara and her husband make for their children and the forgiveness that Clara ultimately gives Emilia, the Polish woman who hid the Jewish family from the Nazis. The film's impact is diminished somewhat by its slow pace and uneven acting, but is worth seeing.
Closing out the festival is The Little Traitor, based on the Amos Oz novel Panther in the Basement. It takes place in 1947-1948, as the British Mandate is ending in Palestine and Israel is about to achieve statehood. It portrays the surprising friendship that develops between a 12-year-old boy, Proffy Liebowitz – who plots terrorist activities, such as nail bombs, against the British with his two young friends – and a kind British soldier, Sgt. Dunlop.
The two first meet when the sergeant captures Proffy out after curfew and releases him with a reprimand rather than arresting him. The two talk about Torah and Hebrew, they play pool and just hang out. When Proffy's friends discover the relationship, Proffy is seen as a traitor by most of the neighborhood, including his teachers.
The award-winning film features Alfred Molina as Dunlop and Ido Port as Proffy. Much of the weight of the acting falls on the shoulders of Port and, for the most part, he carries it well, though at times has trouble wrapping his mouth around the English dialogue
For more information, visit vjff.org.
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