WORLD OF JEWISH FLICKS DECEMBER 2009

The holiday of Chanukah is one of the most joyous and fun-filled periods in the Jewish calendar. For eight days, presents are given out to children, who play games and eat special foods such as potato latkes and jelly-filled donuts.

Unfortunately, not too many films have been made to celebrate this wonderful time of the year, although there have been a number of television programs produced that are now available on DVD, so let’s take a look at some of those.

The holiday is a celebration of the victory of the Jewish Maccabees in the second century B.C. against the occupation of the land of Israel by the Seleucid empire. When King Antiochus IV Epiphanes decided to impose his religion and his gods on the Jews, a Jewish priest by the name of Mattathias and his five sons Jochanan, Simeon, Eleazar, Jonathan, and Judah led a rebellion and headed into the Judean hills. Mattathias and his sons formed a small army, and from the sanctuary of the rugged hill country, they set out on forays against the Seleucid armies, defeating them time and again.

Eventually, the Jews swept the Seleucids out of Jerusalem and retook the Holy Temple. At that point the Jews found only one vial of oil with which to fuel the eternal light, and it would require eight days to make a new supply of the oil. They lit the light and by some miracle, the light burned for eight whole days, until a new supply of oil was ready.

That was the miracle of Chanukah. And through two thousand years of history, the Jews have set aside eight days every year for the celebration of this miracle and of the Maccabees’ victory.

As I mentioned earlier, not too many films have been made about this holiday. Many of the films and television programs that do exist are targeted to children. That is not the case with EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS, an animated holiday fable put together by Adam Sandler. It tells the story of an unhappy small-town guy by the name of Davey Stone who screws up big-time and winds up in jail in his New England hometown. Davey’s old basketball referee bails him out and tries to put Davey to work doing community service. The entire experience is a disaster, until Davey finally commits to changing his life. Although an animated film, there is a lot of adult material and may not be appropriate for all children. But the animation is pretty good and the songs and the moral lessons are excellent.

Another film that may not be considered child friendly is THE HEBREW HAMMER, a hilarious comedy about Mordechai Jefferson Carver, a young man who grew up to become the Hebrew Hammer, a cross between a private eye and a Jewish superhero. The Hammer is recruited to save Chanukah from the ruthless Damian, who killed his father, Santa Claus, and took over the top job at the North Pole.

Children’s films seem to be some of the best Chanukah productions, and one of the best of these is LIGHTS: THE MIRACLE OF CHANUKAH. It is a short animated film that uses animated dancing Hebrew letters to follow the Jewish characters in dealing with the question of the forced assimilation of the Jews during the second century BC. LIGHTS is one of the best renditions of the Chanukah story available.

RUGRATS’ CHANUKAH tells the Chanukah story from the Rugrats’ point of view. It tells about Tommy the Maccabee, an ancient idol named Cynthia, and a turbo-charged menorah, it’s a very funny holiday program.

SHALOM SESAME: CHANUKAH SPECIAL is one in a series of Sesame Street films produced specifically for the Israeli market, and it explains the holiday of Chanukah the Sesame Street way. It’s a delight for all Sesame Street fans, whatever the age.

LAMBCHOP’S CHANUKAH AND PASSOVER SURPRISE is a delightful gem. Shari Lewis incorporates the stories behind these two holidays and uses music, songs and comedy to entertain and enlighten the viewer. The entire family will enjoy this program, as they will THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A CHANUKAH BUSH, SANDY GOLDSTEIN, based on the best selling book by Susan Sussman. This film teaches children to take pride in their own heritage and culture and to share their traditions with others.

A TASTE OF CHANUKAH is a joyous celebration of Chanukah that the whole family can enjoy. It offers host Theodore Bikel and Hankus Netsky, leader of the Klezmer Conservatory Band in a terrific one hour concert that celebrates and explains the customs of Chanukah and even has a segment that demonstrates how to cook perfect potato latkes. The music is great and makes terrific use of the talent available at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

And as the month of December spools out, we have two major Jewish film festivals taking place at the same time in two widely separated parts of the United States. The WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL runs from December 3-13, 2009 in the Washington, D.C. area. This is the 20th edition of this festival, and it will be screening 62 films from 20 different countries. The festival will include such films as the winner of this year’s Best Film award in Israel, AJAMI, as well as the Slovak nominee for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming Academy Awards, BROKEN PROMISE. Washington will also be showing such great films as BROTHERS (about the conflict between an orthodox brother and a secular brother), CAMERA OBSCURA (about the awakening of the spirit of a repressed farmer’s wife in Argentina) and CYCLES (a French film about a Holocaust survivor and her family), amongst many other excellent films.

Coincidentally, the PALM BEACH JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL is also celebrating its 20th anniversary. It runs December 2-13, 2009, in the Palm Beach area of Florida and will be showing some 34 films from around the world. Palm Beach will also be showing BROKEN PROMISES and BROTHERS, and its schedule includes the Israeli films A MATTER OF SIZE (about a group of Israelis who wish to become sumo wrestlers), EYES WIDE OPEN (about homosexuality in the religious community) and ZRUBAVEL (about the Ethiopian community in Israel). In addition, Palm Beach will be screening the outstanding Canadian short film PIGEON, directed by Anthony Green.

Larry Anklewicz is the Programme Coordinator for the Toronto Jewish Film

Festival, He has written and lectured on Jewish films for many years and is the author of A Guide to Jewish Films on Video.