Avalon and Liberty Heights: Toward a Better Understanding of the American Jewish Experience through Cinema

In Avalon, a highly acclaimed film that was released in 1990 , audiences and reviewers alike saw a saga of Jewish immigrants who arrived in America as part of the great wave of European newcomers who came to the shores of the United States during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Writer-director Barry Levinson, on the other hand, has emphatically repudiated Avalon as a film about the immigrant experience. In recent interviews, Levinson has consistently pointed to this picture as a film about "the importance of family and the inevitability of leaving the nest." "It drove me nuts," he said. "Why do they keep going on?"¹ The reason one keeps going on is that Mr. Levinson succinctly and dramatically indeed imparts a superb portrait of the American Jewish immigrant experience in the early part of the twentieth century, from the arrival of Jews in America to their adaptation to the American way of life and their struggle to claim a slice of "the American pie." In Avalon, one sees the coming together of a family in a new home and the inevitable breakup of that same family as each of five brothers marries and has children. Avalon is about the unfolding experience of a new American Jewish society in formation. What Avalon provides is a moving portrait of Jewish life in America and a wonderful opportunity for the student of American Jewish history to better comprehend the dynamics of that period.

Avalon is the third in a series of four personal films situated in Baltimore, Levinson's so-called "Baltimore stories." He both wrote and directed Diner in 1982 when he was forty, followed by Tin Men in 1987. Avalon was drawn "out of remembrances of stories" from Levinson's childhood.² "I was always intrigued by some of the stories my grandfather told me. . . . But for a long time I couldn't make any sense of them in terms of how they could be used in a movie. But then I began to think of them in terms of his story. . . and my father's life."³ Liberty Heights, the fourth of the Baltimore films, followed in 1999. Levinson, an accomplished screenwriter and director, has also directed such films as The Natural (1984 ), with Robert Redford; GoodMorning Vietnam (1987 ), with Robin Williams; Rain Man (1988 ), for which he won an Academy Award for best director; Bugsy (1991 ), with Warren Beatty; and Wag the Dog (1997 ). His screenwriting credits include High Anxiety (1978 ) as well as And Justice for All (1979 ).

The story of Avalon and of the Krichinsky family is drawn from experiences on both sides of Levinson's family. "My father's side of the family was Orthodox, kosher: kept two sets of dishes, no cooking on Saturday. My mother's side of the family didn't follow the dietary laws at all. . . completely different ways of seeing things, in one extended family."⁴ In the film, five Krichinsky brothers arrived in Baltimore prior to the onset of World War I, the latter four helped by a sibling who had arrived before them. We are keenly aware that each brother is there to provide support for the other. They live in the same community, work side-by-side in the same paperhanging business. Even when one of the brothers tries a new business venture, as Sam did with his nightclub, there is an understanding that, if the venture should fail, the family is there to provide a safety net. Levinson calls their inner-city row house community Avalon, a clear reference to the Avalon of King Arthur, which was an earthly paradise.⁵ On one hand, Avalon represents the American immigrant ghetto; on the other hand, it is a state of mind, drawn from the memory of family and from Levinson himself. Interestingly enough, Levinson is careful never...