Ari Folman’s new film – Where is Anne Frank

Filmmaker Ari Folman is well-known for his remarkable, award-winning animated anti-war feature film, Waltz with Bashir (2008) which was extremely critical of the First Lebanon War (1982-2000), in which he was personally involved.  Also using the animated style, his latest film entitled Where is Anne Frank, based on the iconic Diary of Anne Frank -- and later literature about her death and the death of her sister-- is a brilliant, provocative and controversial film.

The story, which mixes past and present, revolves around Kitty, Anne’s imaginary friend, to whom she writes her diary.  On a stormy night, the glass case where the famous diary is kept is suddenly smashed and a figure emerges from the ink on the hand-written pages – the figure of Kitty.  Kitty is a spunky young girl, who is looking for her friend, Anne.  On the one hand, she finds evidence of her everywhere – the Anne Frank House, a bridge named for her, a theater in her memory.  But nowhere does she find anything that offers a true memorial to Anne’s values and life.  Where is compassion? Where are the people working to save the refugee children who are facing deportation?

Just like the story of Anne, Kitty’s story is also about first love.  Kitty is befriended by a refugee boy, not surprisingly named Peter, who helps her on all her exploits.  They make a daring pair, ice skating over the frozen canals of Amsterdam, fleeing from the police, scampering away with the holy diary itself!

I had the chance to view the Hebrew dubbed version at the Jewish Film Festival of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, this week.  Ari Folman and some members of the voice-over cast were present at the screening.  Folman talked about the importance of creating a culturally sensitive version of the film for Hebrew-speaking audiences--much of the English script was loosely translated into a contemporary and relevant Hebrew for viewers in Israel.  Kitty too is updated when she goes through a makeover and comes out as a chic girl, with trendy clothes and lots of style.   

Folman also said that the film combines the past and the present: the Holocaust story known by audiences already, and the Kitty story, which represents the transition to the contemporary period and to the issues of today, especially vis a vis the need to help refugees and asylum seekers survive in the face of so much evil and apathy within contemporary society, both in Israel and abroad.  When asked about the delicate balance between past and present that this film endeavors to deal with, Folman said that it was probably 40% past and 60% present, which tells you where his real focus lies.

Many people within the Jewish community might be surprised by the attempt to liken the Holocaust to contemporary issues, such as today’s refugees, as if it takes away from the meaning and message of the Holocaust for our young people to learn about social responsibility today. Folman does not dodge this issue. He clearly thinks that you can do both, that there can be a particularistic as well as a universalistic message when learning about the Holocaust.

This is an extremely creative, artistic and serious animated film, highly recommended not only for children, which builds on an iconic story that is already so well-known by people everywhere.  The genius of a filmmaker like Ari Folman is how he takes the viewer to see the story through a contemporary lens where Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism, racism and apathy towards refugees are all equally anathema, especially for those who care about the legacy of Anne Frank.  This is a controversial message, since many people think that one cannot equate the Holocaust with anything. Folman, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, does not exactly equate the Holocaust with what is going on today with refugees. Rather, he is not afraid to communicate the idea that refugees who are suffering—who have lost everything and have nothing, as was the case with Jews during the Holocaust—must be saved and given a fair chance to rebuild their lives. The bold hint is that Jews too could have been saved during the Holocaust period as well if people had not been so apathetic.

This film is a remarkable production – the animation is vivid and colorful, the Nazis are portrayed as ghoulish and scary, and the barking German shepherds are reminiscent of the wild dogs in Waltz with Bashir.

The film has been recommended for 10 and up, but knowing my grandchildren as I do, I would recommend it for 12 and up. Take a look at the trailer of the original English-language version.  

Religious Extremism on the Screen at the Recent Jerusalem Film Festival

The subject of ultra-orthodoxy and religious extremism has become an important subject in Israel recently,  due to the fact that ultra-orthodox groups have been pushing the status quo in an attempt to deny women their rightful place in the public sphere -- women are being pushed to the back of buses, orthodox soldiers are encouraged to get up and leave when women singers perform in front of troops, and a new phenomenon -- divisions are being put up on crowded Meah Shearim streets during certain holiday seasons in order to separate between men and women.  As if this weren't enough, the issue of sharing the burden and responsibility of army service has become a critical issue in the public discourse. 

 

Three new Israeli films on the subject of religious extremism are worth mentioning --

My favorite is a short animation, Stairs to No End, made by a film student, Daniella Koffler.  The film  portrays a girl who is trying to reach the light but her father believes that knowledge can be a dangerous thing.  Stairs to No End (7 minutes) is available from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Watch it on-line!

God's Neighbors, a feature film directed by Meni Yaesh, is the story of a small group of self-righteous Bratslav religious guys who are like the kosher squad, setting rules for their Bat Yam neighborhood.  They use violent means to ensure that women are dressed modestly, that no one blares loud music on Erev Shabbat, and that Arabs from nearby Jaffa keep away.

Different from religious coercion in the political realm, these are just neighborhood thugs who decide that they know what's right for everyone in the local neighborhood. And they have embraced a particularly racist and extreme form of ultra-orthodoxy. Avi, the leader of the group,  works for his father as a green grocer and spends his spare time mixing music CD's for his Bratslaver friends to use in their public celebrations and dancing.   But there is interesting plot development as Avi learns from one of the Bratslavers about a more human and loving type of ultra-orthodoxy.  When he falls for a girl in the neighborhood, things begin to change.  God's Neighbors won the Gaul's Society of Authors, Directors and Composers award in the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.  (The feature film is available from Transfax).

Fill the Void, a feature film directed by Rama Burshtein, which will be screened at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, tells the story of a girl from a Hassidic family who is excited about the match that has been made for her.  Things begin to unravel when her older sister dies in childbirth.  Fill the Void is available from Norma Productions.

Additional films of recent years (all have previously been reviewed on this blog) that take place within the ultra-orthodox or hassidic milieu include:

• Features -- Secrets by Avi Nesher, Eyes Wide Open by Haim Tabakman

• Documentaries --  Haredim: The Ultra-Orthodox Community in Israel, a trilogy by Ron Ofer and Yochai Hakak, including Religion.com and Haredot: The Rabbi's Daughter and the Midwife.

When Health Care and Politics Come Together

This year seems to be the year for films about how Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank access health care in Israel. The basic story is that health care is not up to par in Palestinian hospitals and therefore the Israeli health system steps up to the challenge of treating individuals who come from Palestine -- even without health insurance benefits. It's not enough that these individuals are undergoing a personal trauma because of their medical issues, but they are put through considerable hoops in their attempt to receive medical treatment.

There are two sides to this story. The films show the bureaucracy on the Palestinian side, the long waits and humiliations at the checkpoints, and the terrible fact that the Israeli security forces are doing everything in their power to make it almost impossible to enter Israel for medical treatment. The good news, however, is that Israeli hospitals and non-profit organizations are moving mountains to help these people and the numerous stories that are being told can bring tears to your eyes.

There are two new major documentary films and one animation:

Precious Life, directed by Shlomi Eldar, 90 minutes. The film tells the story of a baby from Gaza lacking an immune system and documents the personal fight that his very brave and articulate mother wages for his medical treatment. Available from Origami, yoav@jasmine.tv

My name is Ahlam, directed by Rima Essa, 75 minutes. Available on the HOT VOD channel. The film portrays the last six months in the life of Ahlam from Hebron, who is a little girl with leukemia.

On this same subject of accessing health care within Israel, I was very impressed with an animated film, which I saw at the Jerusalem Film Festival --
Fatenah, directed by Ahmad Habash, Palestine, 2009, animated, 30 minutes.
Available from the World Health Organization, Geneva. This is an extremely well-made animated story of a 28-year-old woman from the Gaza Strip who lives with her father and sister, and is planning to marry soon. When a lump is discovered in her breast, she goes to the local doctors who don't seem to know anything. It's not enough that she is undergoing terrible emotional stress, surgery and chemotherapy, but she also suffers at the hands of the bureaucrats, at the hands of poor medical professionals in Gaza, and at the hands of the soldiers at the Erez crossing into Israel. She is helped however by Israeli activists in the non-profit organization, Physicians for Human Rights, who assist her in obtaining a permit to go to Tel Hashomer for treatment. Notwithstanding the fact that the film is animated, it is surprisingly human and sensitive!

Short dramas about the Women of Israel

Here is a selection of some of my favorite short dramas, all produced during the last decade, about the women of Israel – Jews and Arabs, secular and ultra-orthodox, including rape, family honor, the conflict, settlers, Ethiopians, coexistence and even one animated film.

Mulu
Directed by Alamark Marsha
2008, 25 min.

This drama provides a look at the position of women in traditional Ethiopian society by portraying a woman who is unable to break out of the bonds that her marriage imposes upon her. In loving close-up, we watch every step as Mulu prepares Ethiopian bread. She is already a grandmother and discovers that she is pregnant again. One of her grown daughters tells her that she has enough children – but Mulu won’t listen to her. The same daughter wants her mother to sell her handicrafts and maybe even get a job. But Mulu’s husband is unable to cope with such changes in his world. He takes all of his wife’s woven baskets off the wall, down to the street, and lights a bonfire. Watching him from the window, Mulu does not stop him. This is her life and she knows that she cannot change it. But we know that her daughters already live in a different world.

Available from tikshoret@telhai.ac.il


Miracle Lady
Directed by Michal Abulafia and Moran Somer
2010, 10 min.

This is an animated feminist fable. Fortuna is an old lady who waits in her wedding gown for her husband, who died on their wedding day. Her next-door neighbor, Marcela, the servant of Rabbi Toledano, is even older and is awaiting death to come and take her away. One is waiting to live her life, the other is ready to end it. About broken promises and growing old.

available from: Bezalel academy of art and design, Jerusalem
festivals-liaison@bezalel.ac.il


Survival and the Art of the Joystick
Directed by Tsipi Houri
2002, 4 min.

Two sisters are riding on a road in the West Bank, on their way to visit their parents in Beth-El. One sister is experiencing more fear than the other. She says that riding along the road is like playing a computer game – either we’ll get there or we won't. She finds the landscape threatening, everything that she sees screams danger to her, she finds something to be afraid of hiding behind the trees and around each curve in the road. When they arrive at their home, there is fear there too since now they must lock the door. The other sister, who still lives at home with the parents in Beit El, says, you are part of the cult of fear, you can be blown up in Tel Aviv also. Two sisters who seem to be very different from each other.

From the series: Moments 2002, available from the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University



Cohen's Wife (Eshet Cohen)
Dir: Nava Heifetz-Nussan
2000, 24 minutes

A hard-hitting drama about how ultra-orthodox Judaism deals with the rape of a Cohen’s wife. Even though a man who is a "cohen" must divorce his wife if she is raped, this film shows that even this can be interpreted with flexibility and compassion.

The young neighbor, Hannele, is witness to the rape. She is an interesting image – perhaps an image of naivety standing and watching. She symbolizes both knowledge and innocence. She is also witness to the reconciliation at the end.

At the end of the film, the husband returns to his wife, happy that the rabbinic court has permitted him to stay with her. But the woman looks at her husband at the end of the film with sadness. Why is she sad? Because no one has dealt with her trauma, helping her to come to terms with what happened. In fact, the rabbinic court’s “liberal" and "flexible” interpretation of the law has stifled or even denied her experience. Also, perhaps she is sad because her husband even considered leaving her, if need be. Rather, he should have stood up and declared that he wouldn’t turn her away, especially in her time of need.

So, this is a good ending – the court permits them to stay together and she has to forgive her husband for his wavering – instead of him having to forgive her for being impure and for being "guilty" of being raped. He begs her for forgiveness for his silence.

Available from Ma'aleh Film School
Available on streaming from Oomanut

Bus Station
Directed by Lily Sheffy
2008, 5 min.

Two women are at a bus stop – both wear black scarves, both are carrying vegetables from the market, both seem weary. When the tomatoes fall all over the ground, and both women stoop to pick them up, a conversation begins. The ultra-orthodox Jewish woman is interested in tomatoes bought from an Arab vendor because this is the shmita or sabbatical year and she is not permitted to buy fruits and vegetables from a Jewish vendor. She offers her tomatoes to the Arab woman. The Arab woman tries to pay for them and slips some money into the other woman’s bag. Right away, a Jewish man comes running. Having caught the Arab woman with her hand in the other’s bag, he is ready to accuse her of stealing. When matters are straightened out, the two women share pictures of their sons – one is called Ibrahim and one is called Abraham. The film -- a chance encounter on a Jerusalem street between two very different, yet similar women, each with a son whom she loves – puts a human face to the conflict.

Part of the Jerusalem Moments project 2008 -- Available from Ir Amim


Stitches
Dir: Dana Keidar
2010, 24 min.

Nadin is an Arab girl, preparing to be married. Her mother is making her a beautiful wedding dress. At a fruit picking and packing center, she picks berries with her friends and embarks on a sweet love affair with Shahar, the Jewish foreman. Her red nails are like the red berries, blood red, like the blood on her panties when she first sleeps with Shahar, the red of passion. Since she is about to be married, her girlfriend at work pushes her to go to a Jewish doctor to have her virginity restored. As planned, she marries her intended, a boy she doesn't love. A small slice-of-life in the Arab community.

Available from the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School, Jerusalem.