HABEHIRA VEHAGORAL (Choice and Destiny, Tsipi Reibenbach, Israel 1993, OV with English ST 118 min)
Reibenbach wants to learn to understand her parents, both of whom survived the Holocaust. As she observes their everyday rituals in a residential block in Israel, her father tells her about life in the ghettos and the death camps, while her mother remains silent and cooks and cleans. "Right up to the 1980s, films such as this were exceptions in Israeli cinema. Testimonies of one’s own helplessness and personal grief were rare in a society that wanted to both find and represent strength." (Sonja M. Schultz)
