The Testament

One of the best movies to be made in Israel last year. Great script, acting, photography and soundtrack. A film you will think about long after you have seen it. Should have been Israel's submission to the Oscar Awards under the "Best Foreign Film" category.

This film deals head-on with two specific topics: 1) the titanic labor of a historian who fights against time, failing memories, law of silence, ... 2) a man who questions his faith, following an unexpected discovery.

Although the film is a bit messy, some passages are very well played and moving.

This is a good film about Jewish identity and the Holocaust but it needed more context in the script so that the plot would be better understood. The names and events were not defined clearly enough for viewers to follow along and understand the plot. Showing charts and film clips are just not enough to make it all come together in a coherent manner. Would have been superb if this level of detail was dealt with, and some of the irrelevant scenes eliminated. There is just not enough background provided to make the film totally understandable.

The Israeli film Ha'edut was shown in the U.S. with the title The Testament. The movie was written and directed by Amichai Greenberg. Ori Pfeffer portrays Yoel, a researcher who demands the truth about a Polish massacre of Jews that took place at the end of World War II. We all know that the Germans slaughtered Jews as the war ended. However, in this case, it wasn't the Germans who carried out the massacre--it was the local Polish people.

Yoel knows this happened, and he thinks he knows exactly where it happened. It's his job to find the mass grave, and document this atrocity. However, even though a few cooperative local residents tell him that they heard the shots, and they can point out the general area, they can't give him exact instructions.

This situation is bad enough, but it's even worse because local builders want to cover the area with concrete, and then the mass grave will never be found.

Local officials offer a compromise solution. They'll admit that "several dozen" Jews were killed in the area at the end of the war. That's it. No mass grave, no further concessions. Time is running out.

This movie is an important addition to films about the Holocaust. I think that the Holocaust is in the mind of every Jew every day. Films set during this reign of terror are typically very graphic and often horrifying to watch.

The Testament is different. No one is rounding up Jews and no one is slaughtering them. The forms of politeness are maintained throughout. However, the Holocaust is there in every frame. The movie reminds us that truth about the Holocaust is worth seeking and demanding.

We saw this film on the large screen at the JCC Hart Theatre, as part of Rochester's wonderful Jewish Film Festival. It will work very well on DVD.

The synopsis and the explanation of the event that this is based on are on the website already, so to reiterate them is a waste of space. I will simply say that this movie works on a lot of levels. To give too much away will spoil what is a mystery story that unfolds slowly and carefully. But in particular, it is about a very devout person whose entire emotional and religious foundation erodes as he is trying to find evidence of a great crime that took place during WWII.

It also reminds us that things may not be what they seem, and that the responsibilities of giving testimony to real events may have an effect many years after they occur.

This movie is wonderfully written, acted and directed.