{"id":20820,"date":"2016-09-16T00:36:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T07:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=20820"},"modified":"2016-09-18T21:09:36","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T04:09:36","slug":"challenging-films-at-viff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/09\/16\/challenging-films-at-viff\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging films at VIFF"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soon after he discovered he was Jewish, Cs\u00e1nad Szegedi reached out to Rabbi Boruch Oberlander. Szegedi\u2019s transformation from virulent antisemite to Orthodox Jew is the topic of the documentary Keep Quiet<\/em>. (photo from G\u00e1bor M\u00e1t\u00e9\/AJH Films & Passion Pictures)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

While this year\u2019s Vancouver International Film Festival holds much that will be of interest to Jewish Independent<\/em> readers, the list is short when it comes to specifically Israeli or Jewish-related films that will appeal.<\/p>\n

Perhaps surprisingly, the Israeli films are harsh critiques of Israel. Beyond the Mountains and Hills<\/em> (Israel\/Germany) is about a dysfunctional family (a metaphor for the country), Junction 48<\/em> (Israel\/Germany\/United States) is about an Arab-Israeli rapper who faces racism, among other Israeli-inflicted ills; Between Fences<\/em> (Israel\/France) is a documentary about Israel\u2019s internment of African refugees at the Holot Detention Centre and Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt<\/em> (Israel\/Canada) is about Hannah Arendt, who, among other things, was critical of Jewish leadership during the Holocaust and did not approve of the state of Israel as it was founded.<\/p>\n

Among the other film offerings is Keep Quiet<\/em> (United Kingdom\/Hungary), a documentary about Cs\u00e1nad Szegedi, the staunch antisemite who helped found Hungary\u2019s far-right party Jobbik and its Hungarian Guard, which has since been banned. As a member of the European Parliament, he continued to foment hatred until a fellow nationalist and racist outed him as being Jewish \u2013 his grandmother had not been the adopted daughter of the Klein family, as she told him, but their daughter. The documentary includes interviews Szegedi did with his grandmother (about her imprisonment in Auschwitz, and other matters) and a conversation with his mother, who also found out later in life that she was Jewish. He asks both women about his increasing embrace of antisemitism over the years, why didn\u2019t you stop me? Their responses are thought-provoking and sad.<\/p>\n

Keep Quiet<\/em> does not accept Szegedi\u2019s transformation unquestioningly and gives speaking time to the doubters, as well as the cautious believers, such as Rabbi Boruch Oberlander, head of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council in Budapest. Oberlander has supported and taught Szegedi since the former antisemite contacted the rabbi for help. The event that ends the film is Szegedi\u2019s attempt in 2013 to speak in Montreal about his Jewish journey \u2013 he wasn\u2019t allowed to stay in the country. Before being put on the next plane home, however, Szegedi recorded a lecture, which was played at the event, with Oberlander fielding the hostility it wrought in some attendees. In Oberlander\u2019s view, we must love every Jew, no matter how wicked. Of his choice to help Szegedi, he says, \u201cI pray that I shouldn\u2019t be disappointed.\u201d Even Szegedi is unsure as to whether he would ever turn his back on Judaism \u2013 maybe, he admits, but not likely.<\/p>\n

The way in which the filmmakers present Szegedi\u2019s story is informative and balanced, and viewers get a sense of the man and his deeds, as well as about Hungary and how a political party as racist as Jobbik can find success there.<\/p>\n

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Hannah Arendt (photo from the Hannah Arendt private archive via Zeitgeist Films)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vita Activa<\/em> also does a good job of including both fans and critics of Arendt\u2019s work, but mainly uses Arendt\u2019s own words to explain her thoughts and analyses. The film uses as its foundation the Adolph Eichmann trial, about which Arendt wrote Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil<\/em> (1963), describing Eichmann as \u201ca typical functionary,\u201d and thus an example of the \u201cbanality of evil.\u201d (Viewers should be warned that there are many disturbing Holocaust-related images in this film.)<\/p>\n

\u201cEichmann was quite intelligent but he had that dumbness,\u201d she tells an interviewer in one of the clips included in the documentary. \u201cIt was that dumbness that was so infuriating, and that was what I meant by \u2018banality.\u2019 It has no depth; it isn\u2019t demonic. It\u2019s simply the unwillingness to ever imagine what others are going through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another of Arendt\u2019s theories \u2013 about refugees \u2013 remains relevant. With no rights, refugees are considered \u201csuperfluous\u201d by a regime, she argued, and denationalization and xenophobia become a powerful weapon of totalitarian politics.<\/p>\n

In Keep Quiet<\/em>, a political journalist describes Hungary as a \u201cpart of the world where history has been manipulated\u201d and the effects that such manipulation has upon generations. Arendt broadens that view beyond Europe, saying, \u201cIt has been characteristic of our history of consciousness that its worst crimes have been committed in the name of some kind of necessity or in the name of a mythological future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to her early work, Vita Activa<\/em> touches upon Arendt\u2019s personal life, which offers some further understanding of the philosopher, who was seen by many to lack empathy. In one interview, she talks about how Auschwitz shouldn\u2019t have happened, how she could handle everything else but that. Yet, she criticized the Jewish leadership who cooperated with the Nazis \u2013 the councils and kapos \u2013 and hypothesized that, if there had been no such leadership, there would have been chaos and suffering and deaths but not six million. One professor interviewed for the documentary calls Arendt\u2019s comments \u201cirresponsible,\u201d another says they showed her complete ignorance of history, yet another says she regretted her remarks later in life.<\/p>\n

The film also notes Arendt\u2019s change from supporting Zionism to condemning elements within it. Among other things, she said, \u201cA home that my neighbor does not recognize is not a home. A Jewish national home that is not recognized by and not respected by its neighboring people is not a home, but an illusion, until it becomes a battlefield.\u201d And she pointed to\u00a0tendencies\u00a0within Zionism that she considered \u201cplain racist chauvinism\u201d that do \u201cnot differ from other master race theories.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documentary also covers Arendt\u2019s 1951 Book of Thoughts<\/em>, in which she contemplates the nature of forgiveness, revenge, reconciliation. For her, the latter doesn\u2019t forgive or accept, but judges. When you take on the burden of what someone else did, she believed, you don\u2019t accept the blame or absolve the other of the blame, but take upon yourself the injustice that occurred in reality. \u201cIt\u2019s a decision,\u201d she said, \u201cto be a partner in the accountability, not at all a partner to the guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A \u201ctheatre of the oppressed\u201d workshop at the Holot Detention Centre in Israel. (photo from Vancouver International Film Festival)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reconciliation and forgiveness don\u2019t enter the picture in either the documentary Between Fences<\/em> or the fictional (but based on a real person) Junction 48<\/em>. They each highlight important, even vital, issues in Israeli society, but do so in such a condemnatory, predictable way that anyone but the choir won\u2019t be able to sit through these films.<\/p>\n

Without much context, Between Fences<\/em> looks at the poor situation in which asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan find themselves when they reach the safety of Israel. In many countries, these asylum seekers face problems, but viewers wouldn\u2019t know that from this documentary, nor would they begin to understand the atrocities being committed in their homelands. However, they will learn how Israel doesn\u2019t recognize their refugee status and makes every effort to send them back, how racist Israelis are towards these newcomers and a host of other problems with Israel and its people. Not one government official or Israeli is interviewed, although some Israelis participate in the \u201ctheatre of the oppressed\u201d workshops in Holot on which the film focuses. In addition to leaving many questions unanswered, the film also begins and ends confusingly and is slow-paced.<\/p>\n

Bias also makes Junction 48<\/em> almost unwatchable for anyone who would like to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolved, so that both peoples\u2019 rights and safety are ensured. From the second sentence of the opening, the perspective is made clear: \u201cThe Israeli city of Lod is the Palestinian city of Lyd, which once sat on the main railway junction. In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians were exiled from Lyd in order to resettle the town with Jews\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Samar Qupty and Tamer Nafar in Junction 48. (photo from VIFF)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We then meet Kareem, an aspiring young rapper, whose parents are worried about his involvement with drug dealers and his future in general. His friends not only deal and take drugs, but visit prostitutes and dabble in other criminal activity. Nonetheless, every Israeli they encounter is the real bad guy, from the police to other rappers to the government, which is knocking down one of their homes to build a coexistence museum. Oh, the irony.<\/p>\n

The only entertaining and thought-provoking aspect of this film is the music by lead actor and film co-writer Tamer Nafar, which is available online.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Jewish Independent<\/em> chose to sponsor what a VIFF programmer called a \u201cclassic Jewish comedy,\u201d though, having seen a screener of the film, the Jewish aspect is hard to discern. While much lighter (and non-political) fare than the other offerings, it has much to say \u2013 or show, really, as the dialogue is minimal \u2013 about social awkwardness and a lack of direction in life. The protagonist, Mike, works at a pizza place in New Jersey and has the energy level of a slug and the magnetism of zinc. Yet, somehow, he has friends, albeit not great ones.<\/p>\n

Short Stay<\/em> is one of those films that moves apace with its main character, so slowly and in all different directions, as Mike both physically wanders the streets and mentally wanders to destinations unknown. Viewers don\u2019t gain insight into what motivates Mike, who seems unperturbed by his lack of career, social skills, direction and future, but they root for him, empathize with what must be his loneliness.<\/p>\n

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The social awkwardness of the protagonist of Short Stay, Mike, is obvious in his exchanges with others. (photo from VIFF)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Short Stay<\/em> director Ted Fendt best describes the acting of the nonprofessional cast, many (all?) of whom are his friends. \u201cThe film contains a range of performance styles from the fairly natural (Marta and Meg), to Mark and Dan\u2019s B movie \u2018villains,\u2019 who might have stepped out of an Ulmer or Moullet film, to the quasi-Bressonian, unaffected manner Mike delivers his lines.\u201d And therein is a Jewish link, Edgar G. Ulmer.<\/p>\n

Another Jewish filmmaker \u2013 Vancouver\u2019s Ben Ratner \u2013 will be premi\u00e8ring his short film, Ganjy<\/em>, at this year\u2019s festival. About a former boxer suffering from dementia pugilistica, who is in desperate need of help when three friends visit, Ganjy<\/em> was inspired in part by Muhammad Ali. Its creators are looking to fundraise enough to take the film to other festivals, as well as contribute to the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Centre. For more information, visit indiegogo.com\/projects\/ganjy-film#<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information about and the full schedule of films playing at VIFF, visit viff.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note: This article has been edited so that it is clear Hannah Arendt was speaking of tendencies\u00a0within Zionism that she considered \u201cplain racist chauvinism\u201d that do \u201cnot differ from other master race theories,\u201d and not condemning Zionism as a whole.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soon after he discovered he was Jewish, Cs\u00e1nad Szegedi reached out to Rabbi Boruch Oberlander. Szegedi\u2019s transformation from virulent antisemite to Orthodox Jew is the topic of the documentary Keep Quiet. (photo from G\u00e1bor M\u00e1t\u00e9\/AJH Films & Passion Pictures) While this year\u2019s Vancouver International Film Festival holds much that will be of interest to Jewish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[3561,5773,801,686,6307,6309,6310,6308,4330,218,6311,1900,1916,1581],"class_list":["post-20820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-anti-israel","tag-anti-zionism","tag-antisemitism","tag-arab-palestinians","tag-arendt","tag-asylum-seekers","tag-hip-hop","tag-holot","tag-israel","tag-judaism","tag-szegedi","tag-vancouver-international-film-festival","tag-viff","tag-zionism"],"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\/20820","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=20820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}