This annual event showcases films by and about Jews and Jewish life. I have seen four of them, and I can only recommend one as worth going to.
I saw 36 Righteous Men, a documentary about the discovery of a new one of the Righteous, a Hassidic legend that these men’s very existence mitigates for humanity in heaven, and that a new one must be found and developed upon the death of another. It was old stuff to me, true, but the film was mostly uninteresting in and of itself.
Same with The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground, a band bio/documentary about the klezmer band founded back in New York in 1986, and part of the klezmer renaissance of the time. This is just exactly like every band bio you’ve ever seen: early hassles, road woes, creative differences, the erosion of commitment over time, and getting screwed by record companies. No big deal.
Breath Made Visible (showing Monday April 11 at 7PM) is a documentary about modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin. She is remarkably fit and well preserved at an advanced age, and lovers of dance might be interested. Alas, this is an area where I am a bit of a philistine.
I Miss You (Te Extraño) will be showing on Thursday April 14 at 7PM. It is an Argentinian film set in the Dirty War of the late 70s and early 80s. It centers on a Jewish family whose sons are caught up in the leftist fight against the fascist Peronists and their Montenero thugs. One son is sent to Mexico for his own safety, and the other becomes one of “The Disappeared,” those swept into the injustice system, most of whom were never heard from again.
There is no specific reason that it should be centered on Jews, except that there was a disproportionate number of us included in the resistance, and represented in the liberal/labor/activist population of the country.
The film is heartbreaking and instructive, and should be a warning and lesson for those of us who ignore the creeping influence of the right wing in this country. Worth seeing.