Inglourious Basterds

Kunniattomat paskiaiset / Ärelösa jävlar. US/DE (c) 2009 Visione Romantica. D+SC: Quentin Tarantino. DP: Robert Richardson - negative: 35 mm (Kodak Vision2 200T 5217, Vision3 500T 5219), anamorphic Panavision 2,35:1 - digital intermediate 2K. CAST: Brad Pitt (Lt. Aldo Raine), Mélanie Laurent (Shosanna Dreyfus), Christoph Waltz (Col. Hans Landa), Eli Roth (Sgt. Donny Donowitz), Michael Fassbender (Lt. Archie Hicox), Diane Kruger (Bridget von Hammersmark), Daniel Brühl (Pvt Fredrick Zoller), Til Schweiger (Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz), Gedeon Burkhard (Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki), Jacky Ido (Marcel), B.J. Novak (Pfc. Smithson Utivich), Omar Doom (Pfc. Omar Ulmer), August Diehl (Major Dieter Hellstrom), Denis Menochet (Perrier LaPadite), Sylvester Groth (Joseph Goebbels), Martin Wuttke (Adolf Hitler), Mike Myers (General Ed Fenech), Julie Dreyfus (Francesca Mondino). 156 min. Original in French, German, and English. Released in Finland by Finnkino, with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Janne Staffans. Viewed at Cinema Bristol, Helsinki, 4 Sep 2009 (Finnish premiere day). - Although the film is reportedly based on a 2K digital intermediate, the print had a pleasant photochemical look except in the forest scenes. - I love Quentin Tarantino, but I have been disappointed with his films since Pulp Fiction because of their regressive development. - To be redeemed: the great cast - the complexity of Daniel Brühl's character: the Wehrmacht has made him a killer, yet one can sense the human being struggling to emerge from the uniform - the smiling, polite Gestapo officer created by Christoph Waltz certainly belongs to the great villains of film history - Brad Pitt has developed a new and strong blackly humoristic charisma in his roles for the Coen Brothers and Tarantino; in these roles he is at his best - Mélanie Laurent is dignified as Shoshanna Dreyfus, brutalized by the Holocaust. - The fascinating thing is Tarantino's meta-commentary of film history, which ranges from Ernst Lubitsch (To Be Or Not To Be) to European war exploitation cinema. It is fun, and maybe I'm wrong to expect more. - I hate the sadism of this film. I also hate the simple-minded revenge motif of this film. My initial reaction is also that this film does a terrible disservice to the Jews. - For the Finnish viewer it is striking to notice the swastika over Finland on Hitler's map of Europe. It is not right (Finland was never under Nazi rule), nor quite wrong (Finland was a partner in Operation Barbarossa).

Nepokorjonnye

Непокорённые / [Lannistumattomat] / [The Unvanquished]. SU 1945. D: Marc Donskoï. Based on a story by Boris Gorbatov; SC: Boris Gorbatov, Marc Donskoï; DP: Boris (Benzion) Monastyrski; DP: Moriz Oumanski; M: Lev Shwartz; S: Alexandre Babi; CAST: Amvrossi Boutchma (Tarass), Véniamine Zouskine (il dottor Aron Davidovitch), Lidia Kartachova (Efrosinia), Daniil Sagal (Stepan), Evgueni Ponomarenko (Andreï), V. Slavina (Nastia), M. Samosvat (Antonina), Nikolaï Zimovets (Vassiliok), Mikhaïl Troïanovski (Nazare), Ekaterina Osmialovskaïa (Valia), Ivan Kononenko (Maxime), Samuïl Stollerman (l’artista), Alexeï Vatoulia (Ignat), Anton DounaÏski (Chtchovkounov) (Panas), G. Dolgov (Petouchkov), Mikhaïl Vyssotski (l’ingegnere tedesco), Viktor Khalatov (Porossenkov) (il comandante tedesco), Hans Klering (un luogotenente tedesco), Dmitri Kapka (il fabbro), Vadim Zakourenko (Lionka), Iounona Iakovtchenko (Mariïka), Liouda Lizenguevich (la nipotina del dottor Aron Davidovitch); PC: Studio di Kiev; 35mm. 2590 m. 94’. B&w. Russian version. From: Gosfilmofond. - Presenta Valérie Pozner, earphone commentary in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 4 July 2009. - Catalogue: The story of a Ukrainian family of workers during German occupation, which the father, Taras, thinks he can ignore by barricading himself in his house. The other members of the family are slowly swept by the events and join the resistance movement, while the father looks after the daughter of Doctor Aron Davidovitch, who has been murdered in the Babi Yar massacre. - The only pre-1960s Soviet fiction film that directly deals with the Holocaust on Soviet territory. The sequence, though shortened, was not banned, despite the opposition of some members of the Artistic Council of the Committee on Cinema. - A brilliant image quality in the print, but some fuzz on the soundtrack. - The motto is from Taras Bulba (Gogol) which the son of the main family is shown to read, a familiar motif with Donskoy (The Gorky Trilogy). Another familiar Donskoy feature is a score by Lev Schwartz, always with Gorky references. - The theme of the story: Never surrender. - The Jewish doctor is the embodiment of dignity in the picture. - The legendary Babi Jar scene is at 44 min of the film. In this print the scene lasts ca two minutes. - The mission of the father: to save the life of the daughter of the doctor slaughtered in Babi Jar. - The thriller element: one of the villagers has turned into a Nazi collaborator, but he has a change of heart after Babi Jar. - Not one of the best films by Donskoy but an important resistance and Holocaust film with a strong personal commitment by the Odessa-born master.

The Younger Generation

[The film was never released in Finland]. US 1929 D: Frank Capra. Based on the play It Is to Laugh di Fannie Hurst; SC: Sonya Levien; Dial: Howard J. Green; DP: Ted Tetzlaff, Ben Reynolds; ED: Arthur Roberts; DP: Harrison Wiley; CAST: Jean Hersholt (Julius “Pa” Goldfish), Lina Basquette (Birdie Goldfish), Ricardo Cortez Morris Goldfish), Rosa Rosanova (Tilda “Ma” Goldfish), Rex Lease (Eddy Lesser), Sid Crossley (Butler), Martha Franklin (Mrs. Lesser), Julanne Johnston (Irma Striker), Jack Raymond (Pinsky), Otto Fries (Tradesman), Julie Swayne Gordon (Mrs. Striker); P: Frank Capra; 35mm. B&w. [announced 75’ a 24 fps.] actual duration 83 min. From: Sony Columbia. - Presenta Rita Belda, [piano music announced, but screened was] a sound print of Columbia's first sound film, earphone commentary in Italian, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 4 July 2009. - A new print of the sound film important for the history of Columbia Pictues. - A brilliant print. - Frank Capra's contribution to the great Jewish film cycle of the 1920s, which started with Frank Borzage's Humoresque and culminated with The Jazz Singer. - Capra is clearly influenced by them, starting with the fascinating half-documentary opening in New York's Lower East Side. - This is a story of rags to riches, and of assimilation. - Money does not bring happiness. Everybody is sad under the rule of the young businessman son Morris Goldfish. - Lina Basquette is charming in this film. - This is not a very good film, and it lacks the passion of Humoresque and The Jazz Singer, but it is extremely important (as Joseph McBride writes) as Frank Capra's veiled autobiography of "the catastrophe of success".

Vozvrashtshenije Neitana Bekkera

Возвращение Нейтана Беккера / Vozvrachtchenie Neitana Bekkera / Il ritorno di Nathan Becker. SU 1931. D: Boris Shpis, Rachel Milman. SC: Peretz Markish, Boris Shpis, Rachel Milman; DP: Evgueni Mikhailov; DP: Isaac Makhlis; M: Evguéni Broussilovski; S: V. Beervald; CAST: David Gutman (Nathan Becker), Solomon Mikhoels (Tsale Becker, suo padre), Elena Kachnitskaïa (Meika), Kador Ben-Salim (Jim), Boris Babotchkine (Mikoulitch), Anna ZarjitskaÏa (Nata); PC: Belgoskino; 35mm. 1910 m. 69’. B&w. Russian version. From: Gosfilmofond. - Presentano Vladimir Bosenko, Natacha Laurent e Valérie Pozner. Viewed at Lumière 2, Bologna, 2 July 2009. - This was the first Yiddish sound movie in its original Belarusian and Yiddish sound version. The film was re-recorded in Russian [in the 1960s?], and the re-recorded version was the one screened. - From the catalogue: After having emigrated to America at the beginning of the century, bricklayer Nathan Becker returns with a black American friend to his shtetl because of the 1929 economic crisis. Becker starts work in a building yard created under the First Five Year Plan. Becker is unable to keep up with a Soviet worker who uses scientific techniques while Becker's productivity is the result of capitalist exploitation. However, he is not totally defeated. American building techniques can be copied and put to better use by Soviet builders. The second film by Boris Shpis, a stage designer who joined FEKS and became an assistant to Kozintsev and Trauberg. David Gutman was a master of satirical sketch comedy. The screenplay was written by one of the greatest Soviet Yiddish poets, Peretz Markish. - I was able to see just the beginning of this strange and interesting film.

Granitsa

Vaarallinen raja / Граница / Frontiera; SU 1933-35. D+SC: Mikhaïl Dubson. DP: Vladimir Rapoport - 1,2:1; DP: Efim Khiguer, Isaac Makhlis; M: Leib Pulver; S: Lev Valter; CAST: Veniamine Zouskine (il commesso Arié), Boris Poslavski (Novik), Elena Granovskaïa (Fleïga, sua moglie), S. Peïssina (la loro figlia), Nikolaï Valiano (Boris), Vera Bakun (Ania, la sorella di Boris), Vassili Toporkov (il calzolaio Tuvim, loro padre), P. Arones (il rabbino), T. Khazak (il cantore), Piotr Kirillov (Bart, il capo del contro-spionaggio), Nikolaï Tcherkassov (Gaïdul), Gueorgui Orlov (l’artigiano Moïsseï), Leonid Kmit (Vassia), Efim Althus, Sergueï Guerassimov, Emile Gal (gli artigiani); PC: Lenfilm; 35mm. 2600 m. 94’. B&w. Russian version. From: Gosfilmofond. - Presentano Natacha Laurent e Valérie Pozner, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 1 July 2009. - Judging by the beginning, a good print, beautiful definition of light, a sepia tone, song in Hebrew in the synagogue scene. - The account of the religious service is parodic. - I saw but the beginning of this film. - From the catalogue: Mikhail Dubson was born in 1899 in Smolensk and lived in Germany, where he started career as a film director. Frontier was his first Soviet film. His original screenplay The Black Crowning wove two narratives together: one about a smallpox epidemic in a shtetl in Polish territory a few miles away from the Soviet border, which the rabbi wants to cure via an ancient ritual, the black crowning; the other one follows the trials and tribulations of a Jewish revolutionary arrested by the police while trying to cross the border. The main character, Ari, is an assistant of a factory owner, and his experience with the illegal immigrant slowly converts him to the cause of the revolution. The film was made in 1933 and banned, but Dubson was allowed to revise it. He cut mostly the first narrative, added poor worker characters in the shtetl, emphasized the political awakening of the main character and gave the film a more optimistic tone; with these changes the film was finally released, two years after the first version's completion.

Leon Drey

RU 1915. D: Evgueni Bauer. Based on the novel by Semion Iouchkevitch; DP: Konstantin Bauer; DP: Evgueni Bauer; CAST: Nikolaï Radine (Leon Drey), Boris Borissov (il padre), Maria Khalatova (la madre), Tatiana Bakh (Liza, la sorella), Vera Gordina (Lioubotchka, la seconda sorella di Leon), Nadejda Nelskaïa (Bertotchka, la fidanzata di Leon), Arseni Bibikov (il padre di Bertotchka), V. Porten (Saül, il commesso), P. Lopoukhine (l’avvocato Melnikov), Raïssa reizen (sua moglie), Natalia Lissenko (Anna Rozen), Emma Bauer (Nina Serebrianaïa), Maria Koulikova, Alexandre Kherouvimov, Vladimir Strijevski- Radtchenko; PC: Khanjonkov. 35mm. 1220 m. 60’ a 18 fps. B&w. From: Gosfilmofond. - Grand piano: Marco Dalpane, earphone translation in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 30 June 2009. - Intertitles missing. Summarizing titles added. - A beautiful visual quality in this print. - It was possible to appreciate Bauer's great deep focus compositions in this screening. - From the catalogue: An adaptation of a novel by a popular Jewish author from Odessa, Semyon Yushkevich. A social climber from a humble background, Leon Drey charms his way up the social ladder by seducing all the city's rich women. Pleasure-seeking and fearless, he massacres the hearts of these ladies, whether they are honest or not. Odessa's Jewish upper middle class that Leon breaks his way into contrasts with the description of the lower classes, to which Leon's parents belong, or professionals like the aspiring poet Saul. Nikolai Radine, a Russian, stars as Leon, and not Mousjoukine (for which he left that studio), and is surrounded by Jewish actors from the Korch Theater and Emma Bauer (the director's Jewish wife). - A sober tragedy of the heartless ladies' man. When his loving wife learns of his affairs with other women she jumps from the window. A new wedding is promptly being celebrated. - Emma Bauer plays one of the other women, whom Leon Drey meets in the box in the theatre (at 40 min). - 62 min

Zapomnite ih litsa

[Ricordate i loro volti] / Prestuplenije grazhdanina Surkava. SU 1930. PC: GTK, dist. Sojuzkino. D: Ivan Mutanov. SC: Alexandre Krein, Naum Loiter, Ivan Mutanov. DP: Benzion Monastyrski. CAST: A. Genin, Vasili Bokarjov, A. Duletov, K. Iastrebitski. 2003 m /22 fps/ 80 min. From: Gosfilmofond. - Grand piano: Alain Baents, earphone translation in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 29 June 2009. - From the catalogue: The action takes place in a tannery. A young Jew fine tunes a machine to be used for mechanizing the work process. Some workers break in, instigagted by a competitor who manipulates anti-Semitic feelings so that the young man is forced to leave the factory. A Komsomol unit shows up in time to stop the attacks against young Beitchik. The screenplay was created as a part of the demand for films for the campaign against anti-Semitism that began in 1927 after a number of criminal episodes against Jewish factory workers. It was co-written by Naum Loiter, Meyerhold's former assistant, director of the Proletkult Theater, and later director of the Jewish theater of Kharkov, and Alexandre Krein (better known as Kron), who made his screenwriting debut with this film. They used a number of elements from cases that had caused a stir (even giving the main character a name similar to one of the victims) and the issues dealt with by the press and the campaign brochures. The screenplay and the film caused censorship concerns, especially for the Party's passive role. - I saw the end of this film and was impressed by the stark montage and the dynamic cinematography.

Protiv voli otsov / [Against the Will of the Fathers]

[Contro la volontà dei padri]. SU 1927. D+SC: Evgueni Ivanov-Barkov. DP: Alfonse Winkler, Alexeï Solodkov, Gavriil Eguiazarov; AD: Robert Falk, Dmitri Koloupaev; CAST: David Itkine (Kaufman), A. Dzioubina (Esther, sua figlia), Boris Verchilov (Rosenfeld), Arié Varchaver (Boris, suo figlio), V. Kojoura (Orlov, il Preside del Liceo), PC: Proletkino e Sovkino. 35mm. 1300 m. 52’ a 22 fps. B&w. From: Gosfilmofond. - Presentano Christopher Gautier e Valeri Bosenko, grand piano: Donald Sosin, earphone translation in Italian and English. Viewed at Cinema Lumiere 1, Bologna, 28 June 2009.

Ok print, a bit low contrast. - Ok English translation. - From the catalogue: The film was edited with unused rushes from the film Mabul (The Flood), an adaptation of a work by Sholem Aleichem and an initiative of the Jewish theatre Habima in Moscow. It was Yevgeni Ivanov-Barkov's first film, and the screenplay was so complex that while editing he had to cut many scenes and subplots, hence the idea for this second film. Set before the 1905 revolution, the film tells the story of two small-town Jewish families. The father of one family has chosen the path of assimilation, while the other decides to uphold tradition. Their sons leave to study in the city. One becomes a spy for the secret service and the other, a Zionist, takes up an internationalist position. They both are active in the political unrest of the times. When 1905 rolls around with its wave of pogroms, no one is spared. There are several elements that are similar to Mabul: the attempt on the governor's life, the execution of a revolutionary, the pogrom. While the first film's Passover scene was cut by censors, Against the Will of the Fathers added it. Unlike Mabul, which was released but not preserved, this film was banned and remained, though incomplete, in the archives. - Strong performances by the actors. Especially soulful is A. Dzioubina as Esther. - Impressive scenes: the terrorist attack, in the claws of the Okhrana, the flyers in the belly of the "pregnant" revolutionary, the Passover eve, the epic scene as the cossacks break up a rebellion. - The pogrom sequence is the most powerful I remember having seen in a film. Even the assimilated ones are persecuted.

Gore Sarry

Горе Сарры / Gorié Sarry / La disgrazia di Sarah; RU 1915. D: Alexandre Arkatov. SC: V. Toldi; DP: Boris Mikhine; Op.: Ladislas Starewitch, Alexandre Ryllo, Fedor Bremer; CAST: Tatiana Chornikova (Sarah), Alexandre Khérouvimov (il padre), Praskovia Maximova (la madre), Ivan Mosjoukine (Isaac), Pavel Knorr (il padre di Isaac), Antonina PojarskaÏa (la madre di Isaac), Viatcheslav Tourjanski (Boruh); PC: Khanjonkov (Mosca). 35mm. Orig: 800 m. 445 m. 22’ a 18 fps. B&w. From: Gosfilmofond. - Presenta Christophe Gautier, grand piano: Donald Sosin, earphone translation in Italian and English, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 27 June 2009. - A print of a restored version supervised in 1992 by Yuri Tsivian. - A good quality of the image in the print. - From the catalogue text: Under pressure from the Elders and the Law, a childless couple must separate after 10 years of living together. Isaac, the husband (Ivan Mosjoukine), ends up dying, whereas Sarah realizes - too late - that she is pregnant... The director is clearly sympathetic with Isaac's brother, Baruch, a young student who represents the values of the young, liberated Jewish intellectuals at the beginning of the century. The director, Arkatov, debuted in 1910 with a screenplay for the first Jewish film shot by the Russian subsidiary of Pathé, L'khaim, the success of which sealed the genre's fate. He then began directing in 1912, first at Pathé, where he chose stories that criticized the traditional way of living. In February 1917, he began making films attacking the conditions imposed on Jews by the empire for the Zionist oriented Odessa company Mizrah, which produced The Life of the Jews in Palestine (1913). - The tragedy of childlessness - a reason for divorce - Isaac hangs himself - but Sarah then finds that she is expecting his baby - we see a Jewish cemetery. 19 min

Vu iz emes?

Dov'è la verità? / Afn yam un Ellis Island. LV-RU 1913. D: Semion Mintus. Based on the play by Abraham Chomer (Nohum Meir Chaïkevitch). CAST: Anna Liesma, Herbert Konrad, Janis Ozols/Ozolkaïa, Lucia Liepste-Ozols; PC: Production Semion Mintus (Riga). 35mm. Orig: 1200 m. 848 m. 41’ a 18 fps. No intertitles. Lacking intertitles have been replaced at the beginning of each reel with summarizing Russian intertitles. From: Gosfilmofond. Presenta Christophe Gautier, grand piano: Donald Sosin, earphone translation in Italian and English. Viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 27 June 2009. - Print ok, at first high contrast, dark, screened maybe too fast. - The earphone translation was terrible, which made the film impossible to understand, as titles were missing, and there were only summarizing Russian intertitles here and there. - According to the programme book: A melodrama shot by a Jewish producer from Riga that narrates the misfortunes of a young student under Tsarist rule. She lost her parents in the Kishinev pogrom and now studies in Riga, where the police decide to pick on her. She does not have the right to residence so she must register as a prostitute. She is arrested by mistake, loses her mind, and dies, despite the actions of her boyfriend who gets her out of prison. - Semion Mintus, owner of one of the largest theaters in Riga (Le Colisée) founded a distribution company in 1909 that covered the Baltic regions of the empire. He produced many films on Jewish subjects from 1912 till 1913. The story supposedly circulated as a form of "film play": actors behind the screen acted out repeated performances of it. In 1913, the story was made for the screen in Odessa by Miron Grossman (Studio Mirograf). - Strong images: the woman in prison, accused of theft; visions of the pogrom; the woman on her sickbed.

Kinojudaica, l’immagine degli ebrei nel cinema russo e sovietico dagli anni ’10 al secondo dopoguerra

Kinojudaica introduction text from the programme book of Il Cinema Ritrovato, 2009

Kinojudaica, the Image of Jews in Russian and Soviet Cinema from the Teens to the Years after the Second World War
Programme by Natacha Laurent (Cinémathèque de Toulouse) e Valérie Pozner
Promosso da Cineteca di Bologna, Ambasciata di Francia in Italia, Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati, Délégation culturelle / Alliance Française de Bologne
In collaboration with Gosfilmofond
Con il patrocinio della Fondazione Museo Ebraico di Bologna

Cinémathèque de Toulouse and Gosfilmofond organized a retrospective of 20 programs uncovering more than 30 films featuring Jewish stories, themes and characters produced under the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union between the 1910s and 1960s.

The films were chosen in order to demonstrate the diversity and wealth of such a vast production, still largely unacknowledged, that includes shorts, medium length and feature length films, fictional movies, documentaries and actuality films. They cover a variety of subjects: the traditional Jewish life in the shtetls of the “Pale of Settlement” and a world that has vanished almost without a trace; the swift change of modernity and the diverse political spectrum of the Jewish world that began to develop at the end of the 19th century (Zionism, socialism, Bundism, poalei-tsion); Tsarist discriminatory policies and the social situation Jews were reduced to under the Russian Empire: restrictive laws, repressions, pogroms, anti-Semitism; the hope for change and social success; the creation of Jewish utopias within the Soviet Union (Birobidzhan, Crimea, acknowledgment of Yiddish culture and legacy, the return of immigrants); the fight against anti-Semitism, which was revived during the late 20s; condemnation of growing anti-Semitism in Germany (these films made quite an impact abroad); the Holocaust and the problems with its portrayal in post war film.

The retrospective includes some of the most important names of Russian and Soviet cinema (Bauer, Kulechov, Donskoi), lesser known names (Dubson, Vilner, Korch-Sabline), and also some totally unknown ones (Mutanov for fictional film, Mazrukho for documentaries). Countless artists contributed to these productions: writers like Peretz Markish or Isaac Babel, who also took inspiration from classic Yiddish literary and theatrical works like the writings of Sholem Aleichem, composers like Lev Pulver, Isaak Dunayevsky or Polish jazzman Henryk Wars, great Jewish theater actors like Solomon Mikhoels or Veniamin Zuskin, but also Russian actors like Maria Blumenthal-Tamarina or Nikolai Batalov.

Il Cinema Ritrovato chose seven programs covering the rarest fictional films produced between the 1910s and the post World War II era. This selection provides a glimpse of a cultural legacy that today has all but disappeared: the cultural history of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union.

Valérie Pozner, Soviet film historian, and Natacha Laurent, Soviet film historian, managing director of Cinémathèque de Toulouse

Sunshine

DE/AT/CA/HU (c) 1999 [many production companies]. P: Andras Hamori, Robert Lantos. D: István Szabó. SC: István Szabó, Israel Horovitz. DP: Lajos Koltai - colour and black & white (archival footage) - 1,85:1. M: Maurice Jarre. Egmont overture by Beethoven. PD: Attila Kovács. AD: Zsuzsanna Borvendég. COST: Györgyi Szakács. ED: Michal Arcand. CAST: Ralph Fiennes (Ignatz Sonnenschein / Adam Sors / Ivan Sors), Jennifer Ehle (Valerie Sonnenschein as a young woman) Rosemary Harris (Valerie Sors as a grown-up woman), Rachel Weisz (Greta), Deborah Kara Unger (Maj. Carole Kovacs), John Neville (Gustave Sors as an old man), Miriam Margolyes (Rose Sonnenschein), Rüdiger Vogler (Gen. Jakofalvy), Hanns Zischler (Baron Margitta), Mari Töröcsik (Older Kato), William Hurt (Andor Knorr). 181 min. A Filmunio print, original in English, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 12 June 2009. - Print with beautiful colour, pleasant photochemical look, wear and tear in changeovers. - One of the essential films by István Szabó, one of the essential Jewish films of all time, an essential film of reckoning with the Eastern European past, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall. - It is the story of a hundred years in three generations of the Sonnenschein / Sors family. It starts from the shtetl, the family patriarch the inventor of a herbal liquor. Ignatz becomes a judge, and has to change his name. His son Adam becomes an Olympic fencer, and has to convert to Catholicism. That does not prevent him from becoming a victim of the Holocaust. His son Ivan becomes a police officer in Socialist Hungary, to bring the fascists to justice. But witnessing the crimes of Stalinism and the bloody repression of the people's uprising of 1956 he turns his back to the new system. - A unique attempt to cover honestly the various totalitarian administrations in Hungary. - As a Jewish film, it is about the tragedy of forced assimilation and persecution. The Holocaust episode belongs to the most harrowing in the history of the cinema. - Among the recurrent motifs: the lost recipe notebook, the grandfather's watch, the splinters. - Towards the end of the film certain lessons first mentioned in the start get new resonance. "We are afraid to see clearly and to be seen clearly". "If you struggle for acceptance, you'll always be unhappy". "You are not in prison, they are in prison". "One day I'll wipe that smile off your face". "I'm not anybody's wife, I'm myself". - The finest sequence: the 1956 uprising edited to the rhythm of Beethoven's Egmont overture. - There are gorgeous female roles in the film, and especially the scenes with the bright Jennifer Ehle radiate with intelligence, courage, sensuality and frank sexuality. - Rachel Weisz would have deserved more screen time, but of course the film is long as it is. Rosemary Harris is excellent as the grown-up Valerie. - Although Ralph Fiennes in his triple role portrays the three main characters, finally, Valerie is the soul and heart of the film, the only one who never loses her inner compass. - A film I decided I want to see again even while still watching it.

L'Inde fantôme 6: En marge de l'Inde

L'Inde fantôme: Réflexions sur un voyage 6: En marge de l'Inde / Phantom India 6 / Intian päiväkirja 6: Muukalaiset Intiassa. FR 1969. P: NEF / ORTF. D: Louis Malle. 52 min. An AFF / CNC restored print (colour, 16mm blown up to 35mm), with e-subtitles by Lena Talvio, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 5 Feb 2009. - A brilliant, full-coloured print. Magnificent cinematography.
The Bondo: the oldest inhabitants, mountain-dwellers, hunting with bow and arrow, women with many pendants, ancient weaving patterns, no cattle taboo, no taxes, making of the mud hut, making of brooms, complicated mythology. Wives older than husbands, severe exogamy, divorce common. No alphabet, no names. The common sleeping houses for the young, no sexual restrictions.
The Communist: with red flag, denouncing the officials, the land-owners, the usurers.
The Christians: Christian churches in Kerala, no succcess, in Goa, the Englishmen restrained the missionaries. The Christians of India are fanatic, with a sense of inferiority.
The Jews: the Jews have lived in Cochin since 1900 years, since before the fall of the Second Temple. Simon Coder, merchant. Never persecuted, except during the Portuguese rule. Some came 200 years ago from Baghdad. Very happy in India. Some leave for Israel. But there is something weak and sickly, as a result of strict marriage rules, marriage allowed among Jews only.
Pondicherry, a former French center of commerce. Illumination is ever-present. "I was a chef in over 10 countries, looking for inner peace" (an Italian meditator). Bhagavad Git. A Swedish woman: I was not aware that I have a soul. Aurobindo: a synthesis of yoga. The building of meditation. Ashram: sport. Active, flourishing. Exemption from taxes. Standing on one's head. Celibacy, no smoking, no alcohol. Senior sport. The eldest is 85 years. Comes a day when the human body experiences a change.
Hatha Yoga. Ambu, teacher of hatha yoga. Asanat. Incredible flexibility, a human snake. "I don't practise every day". Hatha = tenacity, stubbornness.
Auroville. A rich Indian businessman. The road to Damascus. The savior of the world.
The Toda. Nilgir Mountains, 2400 m over the sea level. Toda: an ideal society. Sumerians? Descendants from the age of Alexander the Great? No Toda girl is a virgin until 13 years of age. Free love. There is no word for sex. Children don't go to school. Collective poems. Houses out of wood. There is a shortage of women. Absolute sexual freedom. Shepherds, vegetarians, not farmers. No wars, no weapons, no leaders. The buffalo: pure, holy, unique. Men take turns as priests, alone in the temple, with a holy piece of metal. There are 800 Toda. They are the last representatives of a free society.

Novia que te vea (1)

/ / MX / 1993 / Schyfter, Guita / / drama
Novia que te vea / Like A Bride. PC: Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografia. D: Guita Schyfter. SC: Hugo Hiriant - based on the novel by Rosa Nissan. CAST: Claudette Maille (Oshinica Mataraso), Angélica Aragón (Sara), Maya Mishalska (Rifke Groman), Ernesto Laguardia (Saavedra). 115’. 1,85. Print with English subtitles viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Wednesday 15 April 1998. - I caught the first 30 minutes of the film which is apparently essential for anyone interested in the Jewish experience. It seems to be the history of the Jewish community of Mexico as seen through the perspective of two women, Oshinica and Rifke. It is about the encounter of the Sephardi and the Ashkenazi in Mexico. I hope to catch the rest of the film later.

Léon Morin, prêtre

060477 / G / FR / 1961 / Melville, Jean-Pierre / drama
Léon Morin, prêtre / Kiusaus. © Rome-Paris-Films. P: Carlo Ponti, Georges de Beauregard. D+SC: Jean-Pierre Melville - based on the novel by Beatrix Beck (1952). DP: Henri Decaë. CAST: Emmanuelle Riva (Barny), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Léon Morin), Nicole Mirel (Sabine Lévy). 128’. B&w 1,66. Visa de contrôle 24334. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen / Jerker A. Eriksson. Print: SEA / Eurooppalainen filmi - short 115’ version. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 24 February 1998. **** This film is unique in Melville’s oeuvre in many ways and deeply personal in a way apparently different from his thrillers. It is an Occupation drama with a rich texture of authentic detail. It tells the story of a strong Platonic Lesbian relationship. Children, missing from almost all other Melville films, play an important part here. The figure of the priest is one of the most memorable in the history of the cinema. He can be compared with Father O’Malley in Going My Way or preacher Gruffdydd in How Green Was My Valley. What he says is always original and profound. The French Catholic church accepted the film by the devout Atheist Melville. There is more to the film than Melville admitted. Léon Morin is a profound film about the presence of Judaism in Christianity.

Az örvény / Free Fall - Private Hungary Part 10

/ / HU / 1996 / Forgács, Peter / / documentary essay
Örvény, Az / Free Fall - Private Hungary Part 10 / Kuilun partaalla - Yksityinen Unkari osa 10. © Peter Forgács; Balázs Bela Studio. D: Peter Forgács. Based on the home movies of György Petö from 1938-1944. M: Tibor Szemzó. Poems by János Pilinszy. 75’. Finnish translation by Anne Nádari. Yleisradio TV2 PAL transmission on Wednesday 11 February 1998. **** In search of lost time: a musical and poetic reconstruction of life in Hungary before the Holocaust. This is a companion piece to Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini: the small detail can be more devastating than bombastic effects. Thanks are due to the impressive work of the Finnish editors of the film.

Ivanhoe

037002 / 12 / GB / 1952 / Thorpe, Richard / romance / adventure
Ivanhoe / Ivanhoe (TV) / Ivanhoe - musta ratsastaja (cinema). PC: MGM British Studios. P: Pandro S. Berman. D: Richard Thorpe. SC: Noel Langley - based on the novel (1819) by Walter Scott. DP: Freddie Young. PD: Alfred Junge, Roger Furse. M: Miklos Rozsa. CAST: Robert Taylor (Ivanhoe), Elizabeth Taylor (Rebecca), Joan Fontaine (Rowena), George Sanders (De Bois-Guilbert). 107’. Technicolor. MPAA Production Code Seal 15505. Yleisradio TV2 PAL transmission. Viewed in Helsinki, Sunday 4 January 1998. **** In the same league with the Curtiz / Flynn The Adventures of Robin Hood. Excellent production with stirring cinematography, design and music. The actors relish their chivalrous / villainous dialogue. The emphasis on the antisemitic persecution and the witch-hunt trial fuels the story with authentic passion. Elizabeth Taylor (the Gentile who converted to Judaism in 1959) is hauntingly beautiful as Rebecca, maybe the all-time greatest Jewish princess. Her eyes burn a trace of profound accusation.

Gentleman’s Agreement

028979 / G / US / 1947 / Kazan, Elia / / drama

Gentleman’s Agreement / Hiljainen sopimus. PC: 20th Century-Fox. P: Darryl F. Zanuck. D: Elia Kazan. SC: Moss Hart - based on the novel by Laura Z. Hobson (1946). CAST: Gregory Peck, Dean Stockwell, Anne Revere, Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Sam Jaffe, June Havoc. 118’. B&w. MPAA Production Code Seal of Approval 12488. A worn 16mm print from Rosebud (Spain). Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 4 November 1997. *** Intelligent, dialogue-based thesis film with a great cast of a dozen interesting characters. No visual flair and no cinematic dynamism (further injustice in this department due to the flat 16mm print). Gregory Peck is the crusading, investigative reporter who takes a special project called ”I Was Jewish For Six Months”. The experience is surprising. He gets to experience discrimination immediately, his fiancée becomes estranged, and even his little son gets beaten as ”a dirty kike”. And this is New York.

Daavid - tarinoita kunniasta ja häpeästä / David - Tales of Honour and Shame

A-027791 / G / FI / 1997 / Mäkelä, Taru / / documentary

Daavid - tarinoita kunniasta ja häpeästä / David - Tales of Honour and Shame. PC: For Real Productions. D+SC: Taru Mäkelä. Narration and theme song performed by Seela Sella. ”Gefilte fish”, ”Liturgical Song”, ”S’dremlen voiglen”. Featuring: Scholem Bolotowsky, Leo Jakobsson, Leo Skurnik, Ben Zyskowicz. 94’. English subtitles by Outi Kainulainen. Viewed at VET, Helsinki, Tuesday, 28 October 1997. ****

”In the history of the Shoah there is but one exception: Finland”. In the twists of history, Finland found itself fighting with Hitler against Stalin during the very years of the Final Solution. In spite of this, not a single Finnish Jew was harassed, and Finland managed to save a few hundred Jewish refugees from Central Europe. The moral dilemma now is: could more have been done? Seven refugees perished in Auschwitz because Finland returned them. The film tells the tales of Finnish Jews and the refugees who survived here: three were awarded the Iron Cross by the Wehrmacht - who did not realize at first they were Jewish. The only field synagogues on this side of the front were in Finland. There are several prominent public figures amongst the interviewees. Ben Zyskowicz is a major figure in the Finnish Parliament. In the final scene he tells that his father was the only survivor of his family. All others were murdered. The film is made with an austere style without effects of any kind. It does not need any.

The Jazz Singer (1927)

016110 / G / US / 1927 / Crosland, Alan / / music

Jazz Singer, The / Jazzlaulaja. PC: Warner Bros. EX: Jack Warner. D: Alan Crosland. Based on the play by Samson Raphaelson and his short story ”Day of Atonement”. Music performed by the Vitaphone Orchestra. CAST: Al Jolson (Jakob Rabinowitz / Jack Robin), Eugenie Besserer (Mammy - Sara Rabinowitz), Warner Oland (Cantor Rabinowitz), May McAvoy (Mary Dale), Cantor Josef Rosenblatt. 89’. 1,2. Originally a silent film with sound on disc. The Israeli Film Archive print screened had sound on film. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Saturday 18 October 1997. *** 70th Anniversary Celebration. Bad direction, bad acting, and bad camerawork. Even Al Jolson does not help. Pop dinosaurs don’t project in films even now in the age of Madonna, and that curse started with Jolson: charisma magnetic to a huge live audience does not transfer automatically to a great film performance. I don’t even like Jolson’s songs, although I’d love to see a feature-length concert documentary of him. He is perhaps even after Elvis and The Beatles the most legendary performer of the century. To sum up, here is a rare instance where a magnificent screenplay shines through a clumsy mise-en-scene. The story is strong and simple. It is the story of popular culture: the reconciliation of the sacred and the profane. ”In show business we have our own religion, too”. The calling of show business can also be holy. Jack says that performing is now more important to him than anything else. The Jazz Singer is one of the most blatant Oedipal stories of the screen. Challenging his father, disowned by him, but never forgotten by mother, Jakob / Jack wanders through the world searching for his soul. Jakie’s first song is dedicated to ”Mother Divine”. ”He is not my boy anymore. He belongs to the whole world now”, says the mother crying in the audience. The father falls on his deathbed, and on Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, Jack takes his place singing the ”Kol Nidre”. The father’s ghost blesses the son and vanishes. The scene is one of the most electrifying in film history. Musically, it’s Jolson’s best in the film. The other religious performances are great, as well, especially that of Cantor Josef Rosenblatt.