| Second Time Around Three Exceptional
Films |
 t's a
happy coincidence that some of the finest films of the last years
are also films with a Jewish theme. Three of the best are "Les
Miserables", "Divided We Fall", and "Mina
Tanenbaum". They all played in Santa Fe in their time, but
without advance publicity, so many people missed them. They're
out on video, so there's a chance to see what you might have
missed because "word of mouth" reached you too late.
"Les Miserables" (directed by Claude Lalouch, France,
Golden Globe winner, 1995, 175 min., in French with English subtitles)
-and no- this isn't "Les Miz". If you confused it with
the musical of the same name, and many did, you're in for a treat.
Starring the wonderful Jean-Paul Belmondo (still a charismatic
screen presence after all these years) it subtly retells the
Victor Hugo tale through several centuries, ending in Nazi occupied
France during World War II where most |
|
of the film takes place. It's an
incredibly moving and beautifully told story of a Jewish family's
fight to survive, helped and hindered by the moral and immoral
actions of those around them.
"Divided We Fall" (directed by Jan Hrebejk, Czech,
Academy Award Nominee, 2001, 122 min., in Czech and German with
English subtitles). Set in a Czech town occupied by the Nazis
during World War II, this film is unlike any you've ever seen.
It maintains a balance between wild comedy and deep tragedy that
is truly amazing, yet neither is false. Each flows naturally
from the situation. As in many Czech films, the characters are
both very ordinary and utterly unique. A young Jewish man, their
townsman, is at the center of the story. Some react to his desperate
situation with heroism and some villainy. But the world as depicted
is not clear-cut, and in the end we, and the characters have
compassion for the actions of others. The cast includes a famous
Czech mime, Boleolav Poliuka, |
|
and he and all the actors are wonderful.
"Mina Tannenbaum" (directed by Martine Dugowson, France,
Best Foreign Film Boston Society Film Critics, 1993, 128 min.,
in French with English subtitles). This visually inventive first
film by Dugowson (she also wrote it), stars two of France's most
popular actors, Elsa Zylberstein and Romaine Bohringer, in a
story of a 25-year friendship between two young Parisian Jewish
girls, one the child of Ashkenazi Holocaust survivors, the other
the child of traditional Sephardic family. It is funny and bittersweet
as they help each other survive their families and growing up.
Their lives diverge when they mature into very different women
and the story becomes deeply moving as their relationship becomes
more complex. And remarkably this feminist film authentically
portrays the interior lives of women. (Dugowson has a new film,
"Louba's Ghosts", screened at the 21st San Francisco
Jewish Film Festival, July 2001). |
| |
|
|
|
|
2002 Annual Conference To
Focus On Recent New Mexico Jewish History
"Havurot, Hippies and the Hollywood Ten" To Be Featured
In Taos November 8-10
by Stan Hordes |
| |
|
|
|
|
 his year's
Annual Conference will focus for the first time on events that
took place in the second half of the twentieth century. "Havurot,
Hippies and the Hollywood Ten: Jewish Life in New Mexico, 1950-2000"
will feature presentations by historians, archivists, film makers
and participants in the process of the growth and development
of the Jewish population throughout the state. |
|
The Sagebrush Inn in Taos will
serve as the venue for the Conference, which will begin with
a dessert and coffee reception on Friday evening, November 8,
and conclude with a lox and bagel lunch on Sunday afternoon,
November 10.
In addition to lectures and panel discussions, the Conference
will include the screening of two films: One of the Hollywood
Ten (2000), which focuses on the life and times of movie director
|
|
Herbert Biberman, blacklisted during
the McCarthy anti- Communist witch hunts of the 1950s; and the
critically- acclaimed, but rarely-seen Salt of the Earth (1953),
filmed in New Mexico and directed by Biberman, with blacklisted
actors, as well as mining families from Silver City comprising
the cast.
Please mark your calendars for this most unique and exciting
event. For further information, contact Stan Hordes at Smhordes@aol.com,
or 505-983-6564. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|