Stephane Freiss’ deeply atmospheric movie, Where Life Begins, unfolds on an idyllic farm in southern Italy divorced from contemporary ills and troubles. Yet it is precisely here, amid gently rolling hills, gnarled olive trees, a lush citron grove and a bleating herd of sheep, that unpleasant truths emerge. This Italian and French co-production, presented by […]
Saul Friedlander, the eminent historian, is a child of the Holocaust whose passage from adolescence to adulthood was marked by enormous turbulence and change. In his lucid, thought-provoking memoirs, When Memory Comes and Where Memory Leads, both published by Other Press in a paperback edition, he recalls pivotal events that shaped him to the core. […]
One can only hope that Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was sincere when he endorsed a two-state solution in a speech he delivered at the United Nations on September 22. Speaking to the General Assembly, Lapid declared, “An agreement with the Palestinians, based on two states for two peoples, is the right thing for Israel’s […]
Jonathan Hayoun’s four-part documentary about the world’s longest hatred, Anti-Semitism: 2000 Years Of History, is an edifying survey of a mutating pathological phenomenon that shows no signs of abating. Now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, this nearly four-hour French production, with English subtitles, is panoramic in scope and substance. The narrative is supplemented by […]
The miserable governing regime in Iran is consistently on the wrong side of current geopolitical and moral issues. In a demonstrative display of its venality, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi sounded off on three related issues — the Holocaust, Israel and the Abraham Accords — this past week and emerged as an unrepentant extremist. During the […]
The latest wave of Palestinian violence in the West Bank raises two salient questions. Is it yet another transitory manifestation of Arab anger at and frustration with Israel’s deeply-entrenched occupation? Or does it represent something far more serious — the first stirrings of a third uprising? No one can divine the future, but the recurring […]
Two estranged sisters strive to reconcile in Dorit Hakim’s spare and moody movie, Moon in the 12th House, which is now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform. It unfolds over several weeks at two locales in Israel — a nightclub in Tel Aviv and a pastoral moshav. Lenny (Yaara Pelzig) has become her father’s primary […]
Israel seems resigned to a renewed Iran nuclear agreement, but insists it will not be bound by it and will be free to continue its covert campaign of sabotage against Iran’s nuclear program and its personnel. Ever since its chief ally, the United States, announced its intention to return to the 2015 accord, or the […]
Until it was unceremoniously closed in 2009, the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, Ontario, was essentially a grim warehouse for developmentally disabled youth. Barri Cohen’s half-brothers, Alfred and Louis, lived and died there under abysmal conditions. Her heart-wrenching documentary, Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children, which opens in Toronto on September 16, sheds light on an institution […]
With Israel’s November 1 general election drawing closer, opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu is cynically courting Israeli Arabs once again. In recent weeks, the former prime minister has opened new accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok to bring his message to Muslim and Christian Arab voters. “This is an opportunity to begin a new […]