A Change of Scene, a Change of Fortune: Cinematic Visions of the Sephardic Jew

Cinematic Visions of the SephardicJew A CHANGE OF SCENE, A CHANGE OF FORTUNE: CINEMATIC VISIONS OF THE SEPHARDIC JEW "Aboltar cazal, aboltar mazal"l by linda C. Ehrlich linda C. Ehrlich, associate professor at' Case Western Reserve University, has published articles and reviews about cinema in East-West Film Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Post Script, Literature/Film Quarterly, Cinemaya , Japan Forum CinemaJournal, and Film Quarterly, among others. She has co-edited CinematicLandscapes, an anthology of articles on the interface between the visual arts and the cinemas of China and Japan (University of Texas Press, 1994). In addition to her publications on Asian cinema, she has written on the films of Spanish directors Victor Erice and Carlos Saura. 1 The term "Jewish film" has tended to be associated with Yiddish films or with contemporary productions from the state of Israel. Only recently have special film exhibitions revealed another kind ofJewish film-feature films and documentaries about the Sephardic Jew.2 What better way to explore this rich historical and cultural tradition than through the subtlety lA Ladino saying which can be translated as "A change of scene, a change of fortune" (from Moshe Lazar, The Sephardic Tradition: Ladino and Spanish-jeUJish Literature [New York: Norton, 1972], p. 145). 2Note, for example, the exhibition by The Film Society of Lincoln Center entitled "The Other Jews: Sephardim in the Cinema" (December 1992), and "Cultural Identities in Transition: A Sephardic Film Festival" (April 1995), both co-sponsored by the Sephardic House and the Yeshiva University Museum. The National Center for Jewish Film has also organized a travelling film series entitled "A Modem Lens on Sephardic Jewry." 2 SHOFAR Winter 1997 Vol. 15, No.2 and intensity of the cinema? As anthropologist Harvey E. Goldberg notes: "Today, Sephardi Jewry constitutes less than 20 percent of world Jewry, but the importance of Sephardi communities within the modern Jewish world outweighs their numerical value.,,3 The story of the Sephardic Jew is one of dramatic ascents to positions of political and economic strength, often followed by crises. This large group ofJews, expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century, subsequently made their homes throughout the Mediterranean region, farther north to Holland and England, and even over to the New World.4 Once the ascendent force in world Jewry, their influence lessened by the midseventeenth century. During World War II, whole communities were wiped out by the Nazis. Israel's subsequent rise to power led to a rise in antiSemitism among the non-Jewish populations in various.lands where the Sephardim had established communities. The story of the Sephardic Jew reveals a strong inner core of continued , if often hidden, tradition. The act of hiding has at once diffused and intensified their sense of identity. Known for their deep religiosity and yet flexibility in the face of surrounding cultures, the Sephardim have preserved a powerful sense of communal memory. These exiles carried with them a distinctive language. and set of religious traditions which carried over to the details of their daily life and their music. How can a filmmaker depict such a world in which the past colors so many present encounters? Many of the documentary films on this topic focus on a Sephardic woman as the unique carrier of tradition, and as a unique spokesperson for a rich past. Another common element is that many of the films open with a montage of still photos, as haunting faces gaze down at us from the wall. We are privileged by a view of the private life of families, with the world of memory repeatedly coming to the fore. As film critic J. Hoberman has pointed out: "... nostalgia for a vanished world is in itself a Jewish trait. Modern Jewish history is full of lost, sacred sites.,,5 The documentary films present attempts to preserve, or revive, or merely recall lives and traditions in transition. 'Sephardi and Middle Eastemjewries: History and Culture in the Modern Era, ed. Harvey E. Goldberg (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), p. 2. 'The word "Sepharad" is mentioned in Obadiah 1:20, and is connected with the Latin name for Spain, Hispania. sJ. Hoberman, "Diaspora: Artists Invent a NewJewish Tradition," Village Voice (April 18...