As the Seattle Jewish Film Festival gets underway, here are more small reviews to get you to the latter part of the week. You can find more of our reviews online at jewishsound.org, and you’ll find ticketing information for all of the films at www.seattlejewishfilmfestival.org.
These are the venues:
SIFF Uptown Theatre, 511 Queen Anne Ave., Seattle
AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine St., Seattle
Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 E Mercer Way, Mercer Island
One correction: The screenings of “Quality Balls” and “Hannah Cohen’s Holy Communion” on Mon., March 16 begin at 8:45 p.m., not earlier, as noted in reviews run in the previous issue. Please make a note as you plan your festival screenings.
“Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love”
Dir. Dori Berinstein (U.S., UK, 2013)
Friday, March 20, 1:30 p.m. at the SJCC Mercer Island
The story of the late Marvin Hamlisch, a child piano prodigy-turned-Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and conductor, is recalled by Tony-winning director Dori Berinstein in this adoring tribute. Hamlisch was the son of Viennese Jews who fled Austria for Manhattan before World War II and died in 2012 at 68. Hamlisch, whose work scored three Oscars, four Emmys, and four Grammys, is seen in film clips from various points in his career depicting how music’s “triple-threat” approached and honed his craft. Berinstein weaves a slew of interviews with so many of Hamlisch’s collaborators, a list that includes Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones, Carly Simon, Steven Soderbergh, Woody Allen, and other Broadway greats. Each reminiscences with personal stories and anecdotes. The film concludes with a collage of people singing snippets of his songs, serving as a reminder of the number of people Hamlisch and his work inspired.
— Boris Kurbanov
Bulletproof Stockings
Dir. Sarah Berkovich (U.S., 2014)
Sat., March 21, 6:20 p.m. at the Stroum JCC, Mercer Island
Screens with “David Broza: East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem
Imagine the front rows at a Kathleen Hanna concert, except with all-Jewish women instead. This is what can be seen at concerts by the Hasidic alt-rock band Bulletproof Stockings, composed of musicians Perl Wolf and Dalia Shusterman. This short documentary by Sarah Berkovich provides an interesting, though incomplete glimpse into the lives of the band members and their music.
Since there are no men present at Bulletproof Stocking concerts, the performances conjure an energetic, slightly rebellious spirit similar to a feminist punk-rock band, but with an added dash of Chabad. Drummer Dalia Shusterman’s story is particularly engaging here — a musician who toured with her secular band, then completely changed her life’s path after realizing she could no longer stand the stereotypical party lifestyle.
The film also reveals the inspirational power of choosing an audience, and explores the additional artistic and creative benefits of being a woman who writes and performs for women only. Filmmaker Berkovich has chosen a promising subject in these artists, and with the film clocking in at less than 10 minutes, there is clearly enough material in the story of Bulletproof Stockings for this documentary to be developed further and with greater comprehension.
— Erin Pike
“David Broza: East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem”
Dirs: Henrique Cymerman and Erez Miller (Israel, 2014)
Saturday, March 21, 6:20 p.m. at the SJCC Mercer Island
At a time when Israelis and Palestinians are more divided than ever, “East Jerusalem/West Jerusalem,” a fusion of Israeli, Palestinian and American musicians, serves as proof that music can unite a people in conflict. Singer/songwriter David Broza, known for using music to bring together Israelis and Palestinians, has worked for nearly four decades as a peace activist. In the 1980s, Broza wrote “Yihye Tov” (Things Will Get Better), the hit song that became the anthem of the peace process following Israel’s historic negotiations with Egypt. For this bridge-building (and crowdfunded) harmony project, co-directors Henrique Cymerman and Erez Miller recruited music heavyweights that include Grammy winner Steve Earle (who produced the studio sessions) and Wyclef Jean, who co-wrote the title track. Cymerman and Miller cover the making of Broza’s album and eight-day musical journey in Jerusalem with Palestinian and Israeli artists, who work, sing, play and revel in Middle Eastern fare. Together they blend moving music and discuss hope in a time and a place where hope and optimism are sorely lacking.
— Boris Kurbanov
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem
Dir. Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz (U.S.,UK,Israel, 2014)
Sat., March 21, 8:30 p.m. at the Stroum JCC Mercer Island
(Jewniverse via JTA) — In Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz’s film “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem,” the heroine of the title finds herself imprisoned in a system that makes no sense: Her marriage and the legal system meant to help her get out of it.
In Israel, marriages are still governed by religious courts, whether or not the couple is Orthodox. For a couple to divorce, a man must agree to the separation and serve his wife a get. If he refuses, the wife becomes an agunah, a chained woman — wanting out of her marriage but bound to her husband. The film follows Viviane (played by writer/director Ronit Elkabetz) as her husband refuses her a get, and their case languishes five years in rabbinic courts.
We see Viviane often not on her own terms, as a woman fighting an antiquated system, but through the gaze of the many men who observe her in the courtroom: In their eyes she is sexualized, irrational and negligent, but rarely human. If the film sometimes suffers from an imitative fallacy — dragging to make us feel how the trial drags for Viviane — it succeeds in painting the torturous portrait of a woman’s will to be free.
— Leah Falk
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Above and Beyond: The Birth of the Israeli Air Force
Dir: Roberta Grossman (U.S., 2014)
Sunday, March 22, 1 p.m. at the SJCC Mercer Island
The story is like something out of a Hollywood script: In 1948, after Israel realized it was surrounded by hostile Arab nations ready to attack, the strategy was to assemble — and quickly — an air force that could contend with its neighbors, specifically Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. For the government, which had few battle-tested troops and minimal funds to acquire arms, taking on these nations militarily and winning seemed a tall order. That is, until a volunteer group of veteran World War II pilots stepped in, ready to help Israel in its hour of need. These heroes, called Mahalniks, not only became the nucleus of Israel’s nascent air force, but helped turn the momentum of the war and helped Israel maintain its independence.
Director Roberta Grossman tracked down and interviewed the surviving pilots, now in their 80s and 90s, to tell their daring story of smuggling war planes, eluding the FBI, setting up phony offices, and even hiding weapons in unlikely places, all in the name of protecting a nation’s existence. Grossman blends interviews with the pilots, scholars and Israeli officials to present the little-known yet powerful tale that led former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to describe the Mahalniks’ mission as “the Diaspora’s most important contribution to the survival of Israel.”
— Boris Kurbanov