Destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem

 Due to its unique style and content, a lot of people are talking about the new award-winning film, Legend of Destruction, directed by Gidi Dar, screenplay by Gidi Dar and Shuli Rand. The story is about a major historical and religious event in Jewish history – the period of the revolt against Rome and the ensuing destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.  Creating a unique style, the film is comprised of 1500 artistic paintings by David Polonsky and Michael Faust (who did the artwork for Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir).  The style is not exactly one of animation, but rather camera movement on these paintings, and it is very effective.

The story focuses on a young man, Ben Batich (nephew of Ben Zakai), who participates in the revolt against the Roman army, which began in the year 66 AD.  This was a period of rampant social inequality, corruption on the part of the high priests, and terrible greed on the part of the Roman emperor.  The film tells the story of the Jewish revolt instigated by religious fanatics against Rome, continuing with polarizing issues that caused hatred between groups within Jewish society, and concluding with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

Legend of Destruction (90 minutes, feature film) offers viewers an important historical lesson about hatred between groups from within causing distrust and violence.  This is not a film however for all audiences. It’s difficult to sit through all the melodrama and the historical story might be of interest mostly to religious viewers.  The film is distributed by Memento International.