Top 10 Jewish Heritage Films
Aug 03 '01
The Bottom Line It's difficult to determine what a Jewish heritage movie is since the film industry has many Jewish producers and directors. These 10 are directly related to Jewish culture, however.
Just what is a Jewish heritage movie? Considering how widespread Jewish directors, producers, writers, and film stars are, many of our movies could be considered candidates for at least passing references to Judaism or to Jewishness. Although the Holocaust ranks as one of the most important historical events in Jewish history, I have only included three films that deal with this period directly—there are many other noteworthy films that touch on the Holocaust as well.
To put some parameters on this top ten list, I’m only considering films that make a point of overtly illuminating some aspect of Jewish life and/or culture. Therefore, I’ll leave off The Producers even though I am sorely tempted to list it—it has a Jewish director/writer, two Jewish lead actors who play characters who must be Jewish, but Mel Brooks makes no deliberate effort to reveal any overt Jewish references. (but without his Jewish background, the musical number “Springtime for Hitler” would never play on the screen). So, without mentioning Brooks’ brilliant comedy in the top ten list, here are my suggestions for top ten Jewish Heritage films:
10. One Day in September (1999)
Indelibly associated with the Munich Olympics of 1972 will be gruesome images of Building 31 with a masked terrorist peeking over the balcony. Within a day’s time all eleven Israeli hostages will be killed along with five of the eight Palestinian terrorists. And now more details can be shed with the release of Kevin Macdonald's 1999 documentary. Macdonald makes a strong case supporting the idea that the IOC and German officials badly bungled the hostage situation and cost lives. If nothing else, One Day in September is riveting. It’s also disturbing to realize that this is no James Bond fictional piece—this is the real deal, and there are no heroes.
9. Yentl (1983)
Barbra Streisand’s entry into movie directing could be looked at metaphorically as a sign of the very struggle that she portrays in the film with a Jewish girl disguising herself as a boy in order to get religious training. She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Director, but wasn’t even nominated for an Oscar that year, resulting in quite a number of articles to be written about how female directors have difficulty gaining respect in the movie industry. Yentl seems dated by today’s standards, but it does bring up ideas about women’s emancipation as she attempts to change long standing Jewish traditions.
8. Into the Arms of Strangers (2000)
In case you’re not familiar with Kindertransport, this refers to the program that British strangers adopted to save some 10,000 mostly Jewish children from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia from the clutches of the evil Hitler and his Nazi death squads in 1939 just before war was declared. The reason that Americans have hardly heard of the program is because the U.S. Congress “compassionately” refused to adopt a program to bring 20,000 children to the U.S. The myopic excuse given was that children belonged with their parents—a rather scathing indictment on American politics during this time. It would be easy for writer/director Mark Jonathan Harris to descend into sentimentality with his Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, but he rarely does. It illuminates an aspect of the Holocaust that we rarely hear about and puts a personal perspective on pre-war Europe. For those who wonder why the Jews didn’t leave when they knew what Hitler was up to, Into the Arms of Strangers provides a first hand account
7. Exodus (1960)
Otto Preminger’s historical drama about the founding of the state of Israel is an obvious choice for Jewish heritage—an epic 3+ hour film that can serve as background material to explain the conflict in the Middle East that continues today. Even though Exodus isn’t the most exciting epic you will see, it has an outstanding cast and deals with the all important events that impacted Jews immediately after WWII and continue to impact the world.
6. Schindler’s List (1993)
An obvious choice for this category, I almost hate to list it here and it’s easy to bash Steven Spielberg’s work for being too polished and looking like a film school project, but he does a credible job of covering the Holocaust here. It’s one of the serious projects that Spielberg had wanted to film for many years as a tribute to his Jewish heritage, and it works. Most impressive to me is the scene that depicts the clearing of the ghetto. Using the hand held cameras I actually felt like I was a part of the victims’ world, trying to figure out how to survive amidst those unpredictable Nazis. The film does touch on various aspects of Jewish culture and depicts some key elements of Holocaust horror while leaving us with hope at the end. For future generations, Spielberg’s film will become the definitive view of the Holocaust (However, there is another short film that actually will have more impact for those who see it).
5. The Ten Commandments (1956)
When you talk Jewish heritage, it’s hard to leave out original sources like Cecil B. DeMille classic epic. If you want something more original, you’ll need to consult the Torah itself! Even the directing icon comes on screen to explain how The Ten Commandments is a story about freedom, justice and the American way. I realize that the acting performances are statuesque – none more so than wooden lead actor Charlton Heston, and the dialogue sometimes gets downright sappy. Who can forget Nefretire’s classic line: “Oh Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool!”
But what a grand spectacle this is with the plagues, the huge exodus from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and Moses descending from Mt. Sinai with the tablets. This epic is probably more familiar to the English speaking world than the actual book of "Exodus" from the Old Testament. In fact, a friend of mine once told me that her favorite Biblical character is Charlton Heston!
4. Night and Fog (1955)
Night and Fog is a short 30-minute documentary about the Holocaust that begs to be viewed. Once seen—the images (coupled with the provocative narration) will haunt for a lifetime. Night and Fog begins very peacefully—lyrically surveying a pastoral countryside nearly ten years after the end of WWII. But this is no ordinary countryside—we are in Poland following the railroad tracks that lead directly into Auschwitz. But soon the bucolic greens and blues will give way to shades of brutal black and white German archives that communicate the horror of the concentration camps with images that forever ask “Who is responsible?”
3. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
This Stein/Bock/Harnick musical spans an emotional spectrum from the opening buoyant “Tradition” extolling the years of Jewish culture, to the more somber “Sunrise, Sunset” recalling the years of children growing up, to the final poignant “Anatevka” that recalls the end of many years of Jewish tradition in Russia. Tevya, aptly played by Topol in the film version, carries the play and also supplies us with some comic moments, notably the dream sequence that he thinks up to convince his wife to bless the choice of his daughter. There is an especially heart rendering moment when Tevya must decide whether to bless his youngest daughter’s choice for a husband—he must determine how far he can bend the rules from his traditional Jewish upbringing.
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
A Woody Allen film simply has to be on any list of Jewish heritage films. I could choose nearly any Woody Allen movie ever made since most contain at least passing references to Jews and/or Judaism, but Crimes and Misdemeanors goes deeper and explores issues of the soul. Can murder ever be justified? Does God see everything we do? How does a man deal with a guilty conscience? Martin Landau’s character turns to a rabbi for guidance and hears the expected advice, but ironically the rabbi is going blind. This remains one of Allen’s best films—one worth re-watching and discussing.
1. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998)
Nearly everyone is aware that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, yet very few recall another “pioneer” who stepped across a religious and cultural chasm when he donned a Tigers uniform—Hank Greenberg. No white man ever suffered as much discrimination in major league baseball, as even his hometown fans in Detroit occasionally heaped anti-Semitic remarks at the prolific slugger. The fans in opposing cities and the players on opposing teams were even less kind, yet Greenberg remained a model of decorum, preferring to extract his “revenge” on the playing field.
Before seeing this documentary, I had no idea about his importance to Jewish people. Greenberg wasn’t one to flaunt his religion, but quietly practiced his faith. The film shows prominent Jewish figures like Michigan Senator Carl Levin and Representative Sander Levin enthusiastically discuss their boyhood hero. Later Walter Mathau recounts how he joined a tennis club that Greenberg belonged to just so he could meet his hero for lunches; Walter admits that he doesn’t even play tennis!
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is the best sports related documentary I’ve seen this side of When We Were Kings and Hoop Dreams because it actually does much more than illuminate one man. Through its carefully researched and selected film clips, it reveals a great deal about what America was all about in the 1930’s and 1940’s, including some surprising evidence of widespread anti-Semitism.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
janesbit1
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: John Nesbit
Location: Phoenix, Az.
Reviews written: 295
Trusted by: 281 members
About Me:
Watching movies and baseball, now reviewing at oldschoolreviews.com
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.