Finding your place in the world

Several Jewish Film Festival offerings focus on characters who are trying to discover and assert their identity.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY

The 17th annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival is under way. As well as providing an entertaining break from daily routine, most of the movies being shown this year encourage reflection. No surprise, but there are a few personal conundrums that are universal. Regardless of circumstance, most people, at some point in their life, if not continually, question who they are, their identity and life purpose. The following films reviewed by the Bulletin are the products of filmmakers in Argentina, Austria, France, India, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, yet their themes all revolve around self-discovery in one way or another. They'll make you think.

Discovering Shicoff

Even if you're not an opera fan, you'll find Finding Eléazar: Portrait of a Tenor and a Role interesting. The documentary follows American tenor Neil Shicoff as he prepares for the role of Eléazar in the 1999 revival of the French opera La Juive (The Jewess).

The opera, created in 1835 by librettist Eugène Scribe and composer Jacques Fromental Halévy, tells the story of Eléazar, a Jewish jeweller, and his family who must renounce their faith or be killed. The opera was banned by the Nazis in 1936 and not seen again until the Vienna State Opera staged a production as a vehicle for Shicoff.

The story of the opera and of Shicoff's preparations for it are intriguing, especially how he, as a Jew, feels about the character of Eléazar. One of the most engaging aspects of Finding Eléazar is a debate spurred by the making of a music video of La Juive's Rachel Aria (which is directed by Academy Award-winner Sidney Lumet). The 19th-century opera has as themes religious fanaticism and intolerance – issues of widespread relevance today – so when the creative directors want the video's images to focus on Nazi Germany, Shicoff strongly protests, wanting the message to be more broadly directed; more contemporary.

Finding Eléazar screens at Oakridge cinemas on Monday, April 11, 7 p.m., and Thursday, April 14, at 2 p.m.

A pointless journey?

One of the weakest plotlines in this year's film festival has to be that of Shem. Daniel is an arrogant 20-something Londoner. The only person to whom he shows a modicum of respect and from who he receives guidance is his grandmother, who sends him on a mission through Europe to find the grave of her father who disappeared during the Second World War.

Following his great-grandfather's trail, Daniel's journey leads him to Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Rome. As he parties and sleeps his way across Europe (with both men and women), he discovers that his Jewish roots matter to him. Too bad that's about all he discovers.

Good acting from Ash Newman – who's easy to watch – is about all that keeps this film from being a complete dud.

Shem is being shown at Oakridge cinemas on Wednesday, April 13, at 7 p.m.

Father-son bonds

Unlike the character of Daniel in Shem, Lost Embrace's Ariel is a very likeable young man who is trying to find his place in the world.

Abandoned by his father soon after his birth – for reasons he only later finds out – Ariel feels lost. While he loves his mother and older brother, he dreams of escaping his dead-end job at his mother's lingerie store in a Buenos Aires shopping mall and emigrating to Poland. He applies for a Polish passport on the grounds that his grandmother was born there, even though she fled to Argentina during the Holocaust.

Despite all his planning and his occasional trysts with Rita, who runs the nearby Internet café, Ariel finds that he cannot avoid the feelings he has toward his father, especially when his dad returns unexpectedly.

Further editing of a few scenes in Lost Embrace would have been appreciated, but, overall, it is an enjoyable and sometimes humorous film about quirky characters.

Lost Embrace plays at Oakridge cinemas on Wednesday, April 13, at 9 p.m., and at the Norman Rothstein Theatre on Friday, April 15, at 1 p.m.

Trusting in oneself

Sometimes it's easier to deal with everybody's else's problems, rather than face your own and make your own path through life. This is the route initially taken by 10th grader Shlomi in Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi. Shlomi takes care of everyone: his half-senile grandfather, arrogant older brother, quick-tempered mother, hypochondriac father and haggard older sister (who has twins). He does this mainly through his cooking, food being the great calmer of nerves that it is.

Meanwhile, Shlomi barely gets by in school and thinks little of his wants or desires. Then a routine math test arouses the suspicions of Shlomi's math teacher and school principal that Shlomi may be smarter than he's letting on. As well, Shlomi almost literally bumps into Rona, a 17-year-old girl who makes her living as a gardener, with whom he falls in love. With the help of these few people who see Shlomi for who he is and not what he can do for them, Shlomi discovers himself and, eventually, so does his family.

Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi is a heart-warming, coming-of-age film, but parents should be aware that it does contain nudity and mature subject matter. It screens at the Norman Rothstein Theatre on Saturday, April 16, at 8 p.m.

A story of two friends

Another coming-of-age film that is aimed at an older audience is Turn Left at the End of the World. Set in 1969 in a small, isolated Israeli village on the edge of the Negev, Turn Left tells the story of two Jewish immigrant families, one from Morocco and the other from India, whose daughters become close friends, despite cultural differences. It also relates the problems of aliyah at that time and the harsh working conditions of new immigrants to Israel (really a desert wilderness).

Turn Left at the End of the World is one of the most successful Israeli films of the last decade and the winner of two Israeli Academy Awards. Beautifully filmed and well-acted overall, this charming – if not that original – story includes standout performances by newcomers Liraz Charhi (as Sara) and Garti Netta (as Nicole). It plays at the Norman Rothstein Theatre on Saturday, April 16, at 10 p.m.

The film festival runs until April 17. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 604-488-4300 or online, www.vjff.org. For more information on the films being screened, ticket prices and the festival schedule, go online or call the VJFF hotline at 604-266-0245.

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