International Cinema Festival of India

Israeli films portray their unique historical background in drama films as well as comedy, satire and romance in order to cater commercial demands and also to make the discussed issue of the movie lighter and easy to process. The greatest and most known disaster of Jewish history, which lead to the establishment of the Israeli state as an independent one and legitimate one among the other nations is the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were murdered. Films that document the victims of the Holocaust and its survivors constitute a popular category of Israeli films.

Tel Aviv-Berlin, MeEver Layam and HaMartef are examples of israeli films that are categorized as Holocaust films, however, the films are dealing and not dealing with this important subject at the same tome. Producers tend to avoid from indulging in this issue too deeply for various reasons. One reason derives from the fundamental Zionist ideology that negates the exile life and the consciousness and culture. These three films focus on the holocaust survivors as they make their odyssey to Palestine after The Second World War and join the pioneers, rather than focusing in their tragedy and its impact on their inner worlds.

In order to fully grasp the traumatic effect the Holocaust on the Jewish people and to understand the way it is perceived in the Israeli society during the decades, it is mandatory to watch Holocaust films made on the subject during the fifties and the sixties, when the trauma was very fresh movies that were created during the eighties until today.

Holocaust films that were created during the 1980′s focuses on the experience of the children (the second generation) of the survivors and the impact it had on their lives and on the family fabric. Their lives under these huge burdan are a central point in these movies.

Good examples for films that were produced during the 1980′s that deal with the experience of the second generation are: “Daddy Come to the Amusement Park”,”Because of that War”, “Will My Mother Go Back to Berlin?”and”Choice and Destiny”.

These films contained experiences quoted by the parents of second generation survivors, reliving the events of the horrific incident and how it changed the history as well as the future of Jews in the world. These films also contain strong influences of the filmmaker’s perspective, since most of them were second generation survivors themselves. Therefore, the cinematography and script have significant details pertaining to their opinions and experiences of the effect of the Holocaust.

One of the main attempts made by those filmmakers is to make The Holocaust a tragedy that happened to individuals rather than a tragedy that belong to Israelis as a collective; in other words, to de-nationalize this tragedy.

Learn more about Israeli Films. Visit our site to find out all about Holocaust Films.