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2021 Hannukkah Film Festival!

Sunday, November 28, 2021 24 Kislev 5782

All Day for 8 Days

Did you miss the festival?  No worries, you can still watch.  Check out these reviews by TBE members Marjorie Hoffman, Richard Rosenfield and Myra Berkowitz. 

During Hanukkah, ChaiFlicks streamed a series of eleven recently-made movies that could be viewed throughout the holiday and beyond. Many of the offerings included discussions with the filmmakers and provided interesting background and context. These films were not necessarily Hanukkah-themed, but nonetheless quite worth watching. Some of them are reviewed here!

Kiss Me Kosher centers around the relationship of an Israeli woman and her German girlfriend. Their families accept their gender identities but other differences create drama— the German mom doesn’t want to cross the Green Line, the American-Israeli dad wants his potential daughter-in-law to convert to Judaism, and the Israelis are not sure that they want to accept a German without knowing her ancestors’ role in the Holocaust. Meanwhile, the Jewish grandma, a delightful character with a mean streak, is secretly having an affair with a Palestinian doctor. The film gives us glimpses of Tel Aviv and a West Bank settlement, while taking us on a roller-coaster of viewpoints and one-liners. Several of our TBE viewers did not find the dialogue as funny as promised, and the light treatment of serious subjects did not always rise above caricatures, despite engaging acting. The filmmakers were attempting to de-stigmatize some potent social taboos, but did they succeed? The movie raised some interesting topics, and we were fortunate to have our own discussion with Tamar Gutfeld, Cornell PhD candidate in German Literature. —MB

Leona is a Mexican film that portrays a young Jewish woman, Ariela, a mural painter in Mexico City. She is part of the Jewish community and is somewhat of a rebel. Her family does not really approve of her vocation, feels she might be in harm’s way working alone on the streets, and wants her to focus on marriage to a “nice Jewish boy.” Ariela meets a Gentile man while she is working on a mural, and slowly becomes swept up by his culture, handsome joie de vivre, and interesting family and friends. Eventually her family finds out and gently, but firmly, disapproves. The relationship ends. The film moves on with dating scenes of Ariela and other prospective boyfriends, and then with a young man who is happily accepted by Ariela’s family, but not by Ariela. The film ends without resolution. We see her great sadness, but also her determination to move on. In one of the last scenes, she signs a mural with the name Leona (Lioness in Spanish). Her Hebrew name has the same meaning. This seems to signal a movement forward on her part. I enjoyed the film very much because of its realism, fine acting and beautiful re-creation of different cultural environments in Mexico City. The cinematography is stunning. I didn’t notice a rating but assume it to be R, because of the nudity. What struck me most, sadly, was the portrayal of a very closed culture in the Jewish community in Mexico City. As other films in the Hanukkah festival depicted, Jews must still be very careful of those in their surroundings. They must be wary and stick together. —MH

Xueta Island is a beautifully filmed documentary about a little-known Jewish community on the island of Majorca. The compelling story of their past and current existence is explored through interviews, tours of the beautiful island, and glimpses of current Jewish celebrations. The Xuetas (pronounced Chuetas) are a group of families who trace their ancestors to the island’s Inquisition-era Jewish population. At that time, persecution and grisly executions forced most to renounce their Judaism and officially convert to Catholicism. Despite this conversion they continued to face discrimination and needed to intermarry within their subgroup. An estimated 20,000 Chuetas live on the island today, where they have been joined by Jewish people from elsewhere, but themselves grapple with their Jewish heritage, identity, level of observance, and ongoing slurs about their existence. In this interesting context, a revival of Judaism in Majorca is occurring, aided by the interest of one of the filmmakers. I highly recommend viewing this fascinating movie, which may make some of you wish to visit Majorca in person! —MB

A Starry Sky Above the Roman Ghetto, in Italian with English subtitles, is a mystery/romance written by its director, Giulio Base, about present-day events between the Catholic and Jewish communities in Rome, Italy, that spring from events during the fascist Nazi period of WWII. Although there are several flashback scenes of graphic cruelty from Black Saturday – October 16, 1943 – when a major raid on the Roman Ghetto took place, the film was written for and performed by teens and adults. In an old suitcase, a photo from the war of a young Jewish girl and a letter addressed to Sarah Cohen are found by Sofia, a Catholic girl in modern day Rome. The photo and letter move Sofia to search for what happened to Sarah and to learn if she is still alive. Rome’s Jewish and Catholic communities, particularly its teenagers, help her and bring great energy to this film. Catholic-Jewish romance is woven into the search, and both romance and search bring surprises that are quite moving, if somewhat melodramatic. — RR

The Tattooed Torah is an animated short film that recants a true story of the Holocaust, based on the children’s book by Marvell Ginsburg. Narrated by Ed Asner, the story follows the Little Boy during the time his grandfather studied with him using a beloved Little Torah, to the Torah’s seizure and transportation to a warehouse in Brno, Czechoslovakia. His grandfather is put to work numbering the vast collection of stolen Torahs, but is eventually taken away and never seen again. The film fast-forwards to the grown Little Boy, who searches for and is finally reunited with his Torah many years later. Spoiler alert: the Little Torah is located in England and finds its forever home at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Chicago. The Holocaust is alluded to as a period of horrific destruction and loss, though with little detail, after which life resumes for the Little Boy in an incomplete way until his Torah’s recovery. — MB

Many thanks to Marjorie Hoffman for bringing these movies to our TBE audience! If you are interested in viewing these and other Jewish-themed and Israeli films, go to ChaiFlicks.com and enjoy!

 

 

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