{"id":11305,"date":"2015-03-13T00:05:23","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T07:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=11305"},"modified":"2015-03-11T17:09:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T00:09:16","slug":"familys-little-white-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2015\/03\/13\/familys-little-white-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Family\u2019s little white lie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lacey Schwartz celebrates her bat mitzvah with her parents, Peggy and Robert. (photo from littlewhiteliethefilm.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

From Hollywood films like Next Stop Greenwich Village<\/em> and Reversal of Fortune<\/em> to documentaries like The Times of Harvey Milk<\/em>, hyper-verbal Jews are practically a movie clich\u00e9. Name the last film that featured a Jew at a loss for words. It\u2019s a stumper, because the silver screen stereotype of Jews is emotionally candid, unabashedly frank and unfailingly articulate. The rare exception to that rule, Lacey Schwartz\u2019s Little White Lie<\/em> deserves a place in the record books for that reason alone.<\/p>\n

The first-person documentary follows the 30-something filmmaker\u2019s effort to learn the identity of her biological father and, more importantly, force her parents to acknowledge and confront a painful secret. At the critical juncture, however, they become unexpectedly tongue-tied.<\/p>\n

A fascinating modern mystery that paradoxically chooses not to explore the most interesting aspects of identity and race, Little White Lie<\/em> airs nationally on March 23 as part of PBS\u2019s Independent Lens<\/em> series.<\/p>\n

Schwartz grew up in Woodstock, N.Y., with doting parents. Her mother, Peggy, married at 21, sticking to a path her parents had instilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t think outside of the box,\u201d Peggy recalls. \u201cAnd sometimes it was easier that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Going with the flow seems to have been Peggy and husband Robert\u2019s credo. After Lacey was born in 1977, and relatives or friends would observe that she was darker-skinned than her parents, Robert would point to a photograph of his swarthy, Sicilian grandfather by way of explanation.<\/p>\n

Schwartz offers numerous childhood pictures of herself, and it\u2019s obvious to the viewer that one of her parents could be black. Was she adopted? That would make sense, and certainly wouldn\u2019t be a shanda, but no, there\u2019s a photo of a very pregnant Peggy. Did Peggy have an affair? If so, neither she nor Robert ever said a word about it while they raised Lacey like any other white and Jewish girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t passing,\u201d Schwartz tells us, referring to the practice of becoming regarded as a member of another racial or ethnic group. \u201cI actually grew up believing I was white.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the odder aspects of this bizarre saga is that Peggy and Robert seemingly never anticipated that one day Lacey would have questions and demand answers. It wasn\u2019t until Lacey started high school \u2013 in a neighboring town with African American students \u2013 that she began to experience serious cognitive dissonance. The black kids assumed she was black, even though she thought she was white.<\/p>\n

Schwartz gives the impression that in the ensuing years, through college and into adulthood, she had to work out her identity issues on her own with little to no help from her parents.<\/p>\n

The perfectly titled Little White Lie<\/em> eventually clears up the paternity mystery but, along the way, the emphasis shifts to Schwartz\u2019s ongoing confusion, frustration and insecurity. In its weaker moments, the film becomes a therapeutic record of, and a vehicle for, her rocky process of acceptance.<\/p>\n

Peggy and Robert\u2019s inability to take responsibility for the messy secret at the family core deprives Lacey of the catharsis she seeks, and Little White Lie<\/em> of a poignant climax.<\/p>\n

More regrettable, though, is Schwartz\u2019s disinterest in pursuing a deeper discussion of identity, and the comparative influences of genetics and upbringing. The film operates on a relentlessly personal level that perhaps precludes a broader perspective, but it is, therefore, baffling that Schwarz never talks about which Jewish and African American practices and traits she maintains and cherishes.<\/p>\n

Schwartz\u2019s wedding partially addresses this oversight. The filmmaker joins in the hora circle and is lifted with her husband on chairs; a bit later she dances to an African American rhythm. The scene doesn\u2019t have the feel-good power it aspires to, but that\u2019s a minor quibble.<\/p>\n

The greater disappointment is that Little White Lie<\/em> squanders a unique opportunity to bring Jewish culture and values to a wide audience, and African American culture and values to a Jewish audience.<\/p>\n

Michael Fox <\/strong>is a writer and film critic living in San Francisco<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lacey Schwartz celebrates her bat mitzvah with her parents, Peggy and Robert. (photo from littlewhiteliethefilm.com) From Hollywood films like Next Stop Greenwich Village and Reversal of Fortune to documentaries like The Times of Harvey Milk, hyper-verbal Jews are practically a movie clich\u00e9. Name the last film that featured a Jew at a loss for words. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[3373,3374],"class_list":["post-11305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-lacey-schwartz","tag-little-white-lie"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}