by Julian Wood
Worth: $11.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Evelyn Krape, Husky Gawenda & Gideon Preiss, Tomi Kalinski, YID!
Intro:
… when the music does get going, the film comes to life.
Many people would not be aware of the actual distinction between Hebrew and Yiddish beyond knowing, perhaps, that they are both Jewish languages. Ros ‘The Baulkham Hills African Ladies Troupe, Rosemary’s Way’ Horin’s documentary does not set out just to explain things, but there are lots of incidental facts elucidated along the way. It is clear that the filmmakers loves Yiddish, and the various musicians and teachers and performers they assemble here obviously do too.
They also make clear that it is in many ways a language that is looked down on, if not reviled. Some (including the Nazis incidentally) regarded it as merely a debased form of German. However, whilst the language is basically German, it also contains influences from many other European languages (and Hebrew). The Jews were expelled from so many European countries over the centuries, and certain linguistic traces travelled with them.
A language needs a language-speaking community to stay alive and going by the passion exhibited by the Yiddish speakers here, it is not in danger of extinction just yet. From all accounts, it is an expressive language with a fine line in idiomatic insults. Some of these have resurfaced in American English of course, giving us colourful words to wrap your tongue around like schmuck and schlemiel.
The film tries hard to rise above just being an illustrated lecture in linguistics. It wants to celebrate Yiddish culture as a whole, and the most obvious way to do this is by concentrating upon the wonderful living legacies of music and performance. There are many examples of this here, such as a stage production of Yentl, and using favoured instruments such as accordions, violins and guitars. It is a complex joyful musical form not dissimilar in tone and pace from gypsy music. Of course, it is no accident that music was a vector and vessel for the culture of the Romany people, who were also displaced and persecuted. Music and language and culture always go hand in hand.
The music as shown here has some mournful laments but, equally, it revels in whirling frenzied dance elements. As a celebration of ethnomusicology, the film has parallels to Tony Gatliff’s superb drama Latcho Drom (1993). That film concentrated more on the spontaneity of infectious musical jams. This one, by comparison, is a much less riveting watch. Well-meaning talking heads can only engage us so far. Still, when the music does get going, the film comes to life.
