Andrew Haigh, in 45 Years, draws an exquisite portrait of a relationship marked by the vicissitudes of time. Geoff and Kate Mercer, a retired childless couple, live peacefully in the English countryside. As the film open, they’re one week away from celebrating their 45th wedding anniversary. Puttering around their modest house, they seem to be […]
Possessing the largest concentration of Iranians outside the Islamic Republic of Iran, Los Angeles could well be called Little Iran. More than 70,000 of these exiles are Jews, and one of them, Saba Soomekh, is a religious studies scholar who teaches at the University of California in Los Angeles. Born in Tehran in 1976, she and […]
A remote village, near Turkey’s Black Sea coast, is the venue of a Turkish coming-of-age movie about adolescence, sexuality, tradition, repression and the longing for freedom. These interlocking themes are woven into the fabric of Deniz Gamze Erguven’s skillfully crafted debut feature film, Mustang, which opens in Toronto on January 15. Five playful, close-knit sisters, ranging in […]
The American Jewish-style delicatessen is struggling for survival. In his elegiac book, Pastrami on Rye: An Overstuffed History of the Jewish Deli (New York University Press), Ted Merwin delves into its rise and falling importance and does so with commendable ease and thoroughness. As a seasoned aficionado of Jewish culinary traditions, Merwin — a professor […]
I did not learn about the July 10, 1941 pogrom in the small town of Jedwabne, in northeast Poland, until I read Jan Tomasz Gross’ explosive and path-breaking book, Neighbors, which was published in the spring of 2000. The Polish American historian’s work, based on a variety of sources, caused an uproar because it went against […]
On my last visit to Egypt, in 1999, I spent several days in one of my favorite places, the Sinai Peninsula, a 61,000 square kilometer desert of spectacular Red Sea coast lines, undulating sand dunes, shady oases and craggy mountains. I was truly in my element as I explored this pristine region, which on a […]
Michael Kirk’s Frontline documentary on the dysfunctional relationship between U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu at War, will be aired by the PBS network on January 5 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). It’s a timely, hard-hitting and important film about two leaders whose personal philosophies and world views diverge […]
It’s the end of another year and the dawn before a new one. You’re off from work and you’ve got some spare time on your hands. What better way to relax than to immerse yourself in some books. Here are a few newly-published books you may enjoy over the holiday season. On my first trip […]
When I received a copy of Mark Celinscak’s book, Distance from the Belsen Heap: Allied Forces and the Liberation of a Nazi Concentration Camp (University of Toronto Press), I was eager to read it. My parents, you see, are Holocaust survivors who were transported to Bergen-Belsen in the waning months of World War II and […]
Herod the Great, the Jewish ruler of Roman-occupied Judea for 32 years, is considered the greatest builder in Jewish history. He expanded the Second Temple, built the Temple Mount and the walls surrounding it and constructed the fortresses of Masada and Herodium. Marvels of engineering, these structures were among the most magnificent of their time. […]