The 17th UK Jewish Film Festival draws to close very soon so we thought you might like a little roundup of what we’ve been watching there this week. Features: Cupcakes, Besa: The Promise, Room 514 and The Dead and the Living.
Cupcakes (Dir. Eytan Fox)
Cupcakes are now seen as colourful, sugary confectionary delights considered virtually calorie free when shared with loved ones. Director Eytan Fox’s film Cupcakes can be said to be working towards the same confectionary social aims as a group of six neighbours who are also close friends (sound familiar?) inadvertently share the sort of supportive friendship that leads to spontaneous songwriting and representing Israel in what is basically the Eurovision Song Contest.
The five women and one very camp gay man are colour coded throughout which adds a pleasing frothy lightness to the films aesthetic. There are social commentaries about modern Israeli society be it closeted homosexuality or family and political expectations all liberally sprinkled with the frivolity of a very camp happy night out. Cupcakes is by no means a cinematic masterpiece. At 90 minutes and some grating songs later it does still manage to overstay its welcome but it is ultimately harmless and a little too forgettable. Rating: two Torches
Cupcakes is showing as the Closing Night Gala on 17 November at Tricycle, London – Screening details
Words by Mairéad Roche.
Besa: The Promise (Dir. Rachel Goslins)
Besa: The Promise tells the under reported story of Albanians hiding Jewish families from occupying Italian and then German forces during World War II. Besa is the Albanian idea of making a promise and holding to that promise regardless of the personal consequences. What is particularly intriguing about the help offered by so many Albanians during the war, including the then King of Albania and the government, is that the majority of Albanians are Muslims not known to be traditionally allies of Judaism.
Director Rachel Goslins frames her documentary between the story of Albanian toyshop owner Rexhep Hoxha whose father was given a set of Jewish books for safe keeping by the Jewish family they sheltered from the Nazis and American photographer Norman H. Gershman taking portraits of brave Albanians who risked their lives hiding Jewish refugees. Both Albanians and Jewish survivors are interviewed building up a picture of bravery and decency during such a grave period of man’s inhumanity to man. Goslins’ film employs animation and Gershman’s striking photography, so as a piece of visual film Besa: The Promise is a little mixed in its appeal. However, the story itself is extremely interesting from a historical and humanitarian point of view, and deserves a wide audience. Rating: three Torches
Besa: The Promise is showing on 17 November at Tricycle, London – Screening details
Words by Mairéad Roche.
Room 514 (Dir. Sharon Bar-Ziv)
Anna (Asia Naifeld),a military policewoman, is three weeks away from leaving her job when she begins investigating a case that promises to shake up the entire Israeli army. A Palestinian family have made a complaint of abuse by an Israeli Army patrol group and Anna is determined to get to the bottom of it. Senior officers plead with her to close the case and leave it alone but her strong sense of justice will not allow it.
The entirety of Room 514 is filmed within the named (or numbered) interrogation room or on the bus, almost as if it was real life footage. Asia Naifield is very tough and likeable as the Israeli military policewoman, seemingly having to deal with a lack of morals on all sides. Sharon Bar-Ziv’s Room 514 raises some very important and current issues about how far it is acceptable for army patrols to exert force upon civilians in their attempt to keep an area ‘safe’, and what punishment they should face for behaving as if they are beyond reproach. Rating: three Torches
Words by Maryann O’Connor
The Dead and the Living (Dir. Barbara Albert)
This story about some family members wanting to keep the family history quiet will be quite familiar to a lot of people. But Sita, a Berliner in modern Germany, has to face more than the usual ‘ask no questions’ stance from her family since the secret they are either keeping or denying is not about a distant past family bust up. It is the secret of her paternal grandfather’s involvement in the SS during WWII. Sita then travels about europe, visiting various record sites and meeting lots of interesting people in the quest for the truth about her grandad, as her father resolutely denies any knowledge of the past.
In The Dead and the Living, Barbara Albert has created a very thoughtful piece, dealing with the guilt of involvement by proxy in a terrible deed and the stark realisations of what people will do to survive a situation they find themselves in. The rest of the cast do their job to a good enough level but the film’s focus is definitely on the mercurial Anna Fischer as Sita. Rating: three Torches
The Dead and the Living is showing on 17 November at JW3, London – Screening details
Words by Maryann O’Connor
