Film too melodramatic

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

Israel became a state on May 14, 1948. Most of us have thought about what it would be like to have been there, as David Ben Gurion read out the Declaration of Independence. It was the culmination of a long-fought battle for the Jewish people – one that, unfortunately, has been followed by several others. As Israel celebrates its 61st anniversary, a newly released DVD attempts to recreate that historic moment and the struggles leading up to Israel's declaration of statehood and immediately following it.

O Jerusalem is based on the best-selling novel of the same name, written by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. It starts with archival footage of the end of the Second World War and one of the most interesting aspects of the film – which saw a limited run in theatres in 2007 – is the way it interweaves the black and white shots from the late 1940s with the present-day recreation of the period, in color. The technique doesn't always work, however, and, at one potentially moving point, when one character is relating to another how she suffered during the Holocaust, actual Holocaust images pop onto the screen. Rather than adding to the substance of the dialogue, they reveal its superficiality.

For the most part, the screenplay is fine, but not great. O Jerusalem tells the story of two friends, Bobby, an American Jew, and Saïd, an American Arab, who meet in 1946 in the United States. They are drawn into the conflict in the Middle East quite literally, heading to the region and picking up arms to fight on the opposing sides.

The film is told from the alternating viewpoints of the Jews and Arabs and, on occasion, the British. While it attempts to be balanced, the Americans and Jews come off a bit more favorably in this portrayal than the Arabs and the British. But overall, it preaches peace – and saccharinely so, between the incredibly melodramatic soundtrack and the over-the-top scenes contrived to make you feel the anguish of the conflict. For example, each time a character learns that one of their loved ones has been killed – and this happens more than once – painful screams of grief follow the news.

If anything saves O Jerusalem, it is the story itself. At times, the film brings you close to what it might have been like to have fought with the Haganah (not only versus the Arabs, but also the internal disagreements between the Haganah and the more extreme Irgun) or to have smuggled supplies to the hundreds of Jews caught in the Hurva Synagogue, surrounded by the enemy. There are interesting, engaging parts in the movie but, while it may be worth renting, O Jerusalem – which comes out on DVD on May 12 – is not a must-have for your DVD collection.

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