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This Weekend’s Film Festival – The Jewish Experience

10 02 2010

With the Coen Brothers’ brilliant A SERIOUS MAN now on DVD and Blu-ray, This Weekend’s Film Festival takes a look at the Jewish experience on film. There is a 1960s tale of Job. A Holocaust survival story. A search for one’s Jewish heritage. A look at anti-Semitism. And finally a musical that is often called the quintessential Jewish film.

Joel and Ethan Coen’s A SERIOUS MAN follows Larry Gopnik, played brilliantly by Michael Stuhlbarg, as his life slowly unravels. His wife leaves him. He’s being blackmailed at work while he’s up for review. His troublesome brother moves in with his family. His children treat him like he’s their slave. As the burdens pile higher on his shoulders, he goes to visit a series of rabbis for advice, but nothing seems to ease his worry. The central question is why does God allow bad things happen to people who didn’t do anything? The key part of that is “didn’t do anything” not “didn’t do anything wrong.” The questioning of the meaning of life is so central to Jewish identity in the film. From the start, the film begins with an unconnected Yiddish parable that serves as a perfect metaphor for the entire film. A husband comes home and tells his wife that he has invited a rabbi to dinner. She says the rabbi died. So who is the guy knocking at their door, a kind old rabbi or a dybbuk? With their typical dark comic lens, the Coens create a film that’s as smart as it is hilarious. As I said in my original review, “Be good to yourself and go see this film, you’ll feel better about yourself for it. Your life probably ain’t as bad as Larry Gopnik.”

George Stevens’ THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK tells the harrowing tale of the family of 13-year-old spitfire Anne Frank, played delightfully by Millie Perkins. The story honestly displays the difficulties and sacrifices of living in hiding during World War II. Living over a shop, they must stay still during work hours so they don’t risk discovery. Anne develops a crush on fellow refugee Peter Van Daan (Richard Beymer), who later falls for Anne’s sister Margot (Diane Baker). These interpersonal conflicts bring the humanity to the story and underline the claustrophobia of their experience. Anne’s independence captures the spark for life that young people have and is the heart of this story of survival. While the ending is tragic, the will to survive no matter the outcome is the point. Stevens never over-dramatizes the tale using subtly poetic cinematography and unobtrusive scoring. As I said in my original review, “The filmmakers do find a positive spin on the tragic story, which looks at the bigger picture to find hope. The film works as a bittersweet ode to the human will to survive.”

From actor Liev Schreiber, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED tracks the journey of three quirky characters searching for clues to their pasts. Immigration is a theme that appears in Jewish traditions extensively. Foer, played in a neurotic way by Elijah Wood, travels to the Ukraine to discover more about a mysterious woman in a photo his grandfather cherished. He is taken on the road by hip-hop-loving Alex, played hilariously by Eugene Hutz, and his cantankerous grandfather (Boris Leskin). All Foer knows is that the woman is named Augustine, the name of her village and that she helped his grandfather survive the Nazis. The cultural clashes between the characters create humorous episodes, but as they learn more about their pasts the more commonalities they find. As I said in my original review, “One can tell that the project meant something to [Schreiber], because you can feel the personal passion as you watch it, especially toward the end [when the tone gets darker]… This touching ode to family and finding oneself is humorous and tragic at the same time.” World War II still has a lasting impact on Jewish identity. This film tackles the complexity of that issue with humor and poignancy.

Elia Kazan’s GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT came out two years after the end of World War II. This Oscar-winning drama looks at anti-Semitism from the outside in. Gregory Peck brings his signature dignity as a reporter who poses as a Jew to experience prejudice first hand. Brilliantly with the scenario, the film examines institutionalized prejudices that following a Jewish person of the era would be hard to uncover. This comes out clearly in Peck’s Philip Green and Dorothy McGuire’s Kathy Lacey’s budding relationship. Green’s son comes home from school one day, having been ridiculed for being a Jew and Kathy tells him to not worry because he’s not really a Jew. This brilliantly written episode cuts to the core of the country club racism that existed at the time and still exists in many circles today. But still, as a non-Jew, Green can walk away when his assignment is over, so the film touches on the emotional toll prejudices play on Jews through soldier Dave Goldman, played powerfully by John Garfield. He has served his country with honor, but doesn’t get the respect that a gentile soldier receives. As I said in my original review, “The film’s look at subtle bigotry is as fresh and relevant today as it was almost 60 years ago when this film was made. In the end, the film is able to rise above its heavy-handed moments and present a powerful and important message.”

Norman Jewison’s FIDDLER ON THE ROOF takes the popular Broadway musical and transports it to the screen in epic fashion. As I said in my original review, “The broad story of a father sweating over the marriages of his daughters is common to any religion or culture, but the details of this film are seeped in Jewish tradition.” Tevye, played by Topol in an Oscar-nominated performance, is a poor milkman who finds security and comfort from the problems of life in his Jewish traditions. His three daughters shake those traditions when they choose to marry in unconventional ways. Like A SERIOUS MAN, the film captures the open debate that Jews have with God. The song “If I Were a Rich Man” underlines the struggle between living in the real world and still having time to devote to a spiritual life. This bittersweet tuner captures the precariousness of life in its image of a fiddler balancing on a roof, trying to play a happy tune while not falling to his death. Like EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, the film concludes with immigration, harkening back to the Jews exile in the desert. While the struggle between tradition and change is not strictly a Jewish dilemma, the film recognizes the complexity of the issue when Judaism is both part of religious and racial identity. There is a comical dark irony to the end. It says the good times are too short and the bad times are harsh, but life goes on.

To enjoy this experience simply head to the videostore, update the Netflix queue, check out HelloMovies.com for streaming sites, visit Zap2It.com for TV listings or help out the site by purchasing the films on DVD or Blu-ray at the links below.