NEWS FEATURE: Reel Jews: 50 major films on Jewish life and culture

c. 1998 religion News Service UNDATED _ The Jewish people were”the inventors of Western civilization,”giving the world their scriptures and the concept of monotheism, writes Thomas Cahill in his latest historical bestseller,”The Gifts of the Jews.” But it is perhaps through their contributions to the world of film that Jews have exercised their greatest cultural […]

c. 1998 religion News Service

UNDATED _ The Jewish people were”the inventors of Western civilization,”giving the world their scriptures and the concept of monotheism, writes Thomas Cahill in his latest historical bestseller,”The Gifts of the Jews.” But it is perhaps through their contributions to the world of film that Jews have exercised their greatest cultural impact during this century.”There are a lot of Jewish films,”says Colorado film critic Kathryn Bernheimer, author of the recently published book”The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies”(Birch Lane).”A lot of that has to do with the fact that Jews founded Hollywood. They dominated it in its early days, and today they continue to be a driving force in film,”she says.”Jewish culture also has a strong literary connection, and a tradition of sophisticated storytelling. So it’s not surprising that Jews who migrated to this country would look to movie making as something they could do.” Films about Jews seldom focus on religion. While there are dozens of movies about Christian holidays, Bernheimer says there’s not a single good film about Hanukkah, or even Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that begins at sundown Sept. 20.

But there are plenty of films exploring important topics like the Holocaust, assimilation, immigration, Israel, and Jewish ethics, values, and identity.


Making”best of”lists is always a controversial task.

The American Film Institute received boos for its recent ranking of the Top 100 American films, while the Modern Library has drawn fire recently for its list of the century’s 100 best English-language novels.

But Bernheimer, who whittled down her initial list of 250 films to focus on the 50 she considers artistically superior or most influential, doesn’t see any reason to stop now.”The list gimmick is a very good one, because right away people want to know what number one is,”she says.”Lists engage debate.” Her ranking, which concentrates on”films that examine an aspect of Jewish experience and feature at least one clearly defined Jewish central character,”has generated its share of criticism.

Entertainment Weekly magazine declared some of her choices”beyond reproach.” And there’s certainly little to criticize about her top five picks:”The Chosen,””Fiddler on the Roof,””Schindler’s List,””Shoah,”and”The Jazz Singer.” But others have criticized the list’s inclusion of films like”Blazing Saddles”(cited for its”zany and satirical Jewish sensibility”) and”Dirty Dancing”(for its positive portrayal of Jewish characters and values), while excluding acclaimed films such as”Avalon”(“a Jewish story stripped of all Jewish references”) and”Sophie’s Choice”(a powerful Holocaust film, but one which focuses on a Polish survivor who is”terrorized by a crazy Jew”).”Tradition,”the opening song in”Fiddler on the Roof,”explores a question Bernheimer says lies at the heart of contemporary Jewish experience:”How much can Jewish life be bent before it breaks?” It’s a question explored in 1927 in”The Jazz Singer,”and it’s one Bernheimer has often asked herself.

Her parents were German-Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany in 1939. Once they arrived in the United States, they focused more on fitting in than they did on promoting either rigorous religious observance or a strong Jewish cultural identity.”Growing up in Massachusetts, I didn’t know what it meant to be a Jew,”she says.

Later, she moved to Boulder to study theater at the University of Colorado, and worked as a feature writer and film critic for 16 years at the Boulder Daily Camera.”Being a Jew and a film critic, I was invited to speak to various groups about film,”she says.”I found that audiences were fascinated about this topic.” With the birth of her daughter nine years ago, Bernheimer experienced a stronger desire for connection to some form of Jewish community. Today, she’s actively involved in Boulder’s Jewish Renewal Community, part of a loosely affiliated national network of non-denominational groups focusing on contemporary spiritual celebrations, ancient mystical traditions, and practical community service.

She also spoke at last month’s third annual Denver Jewish Film Festival. One of more than 30 such festivals held around the country every year, the Denver event attracted nearly 3,000 people during its eight days of screenings, lectures, and other activities.

For Bernheimer, film and faith complement each other.”This is a time when a lot of people are becoming more interested in their Jewish heritage,”she says.”For those people who may not be religiously oriented, movies are an easy way to start looking at questions of Jewish heritage and values.” Bernheimer says she and other Jews wrestle with the questions of”how to be Jewish, and how Jewish to be.”Film, she believes, can help.”Movies are a good place to look,”she says.”They don’t necessarily answer these questions, but they provide a good springboard for discussing them.”


MJP END RABEY

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