Live and Become

The closing night of last year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival turned out to be more than just the screening of a movie. There was drama in the Castro Theater, many in a mostly Jewish audience sobbing audibly in response to the story of an Ethopian child escaping to Israel by pretending to be Jewish. In June 2007, "Live and Become" is being released commercially in the U.S.

Forty-seven-year-old Radu Mihaileanu - Romanian-born, raised in Israel, now a French filmmaker, director of the much-honored "Train of Life" - created a complex, honest, deeply affecting work in "Live and Become" ("Va, vis et deviens"). In the post-Holocaust world of many Jews trying to pass for gentile, Mihaileanu's true and truthful story shows the opposite: a mother's denial of a child as her own, forcing him to adopt a new identity and religion in order to survive - as a Jew, in Israel, escaping the deadly Ethopian famine and war.

Yet another meaningful reference is Imre Gyöngyössy's 1983 "The Revolt of Job" ("Jób lázadása"), about a Hungarian Jewish peasant couple adopting a Christian child, raising him as a Christian, and refuse to recognize him as their own when they are being taken away, again to assure the child's survival. (The child lived, and grew up to be the writer and director of the film about his own story.) Mihaileanu's film is based on true events. In 1985, the Mossad supervised an amazing drive, "Operation Moses," the airlift of thousands of Falasha, Ethiopian Jews, believed to be descendants of Menilek I, the son of the Queen of Sheba (Makeda) and King Solomon. Thousands died on the march to Sudan where the Israeli airlift operated, but even more escaped, arrived in Israel, were accepted by the country - if not without religious and political controversy.

History and politics are just the background to "Live and Become," the title stemming from the heartbreaking command of the boy's mother: go, don't tell anyone who you really are, become a Jew, do not come back.

Three actors play Schlomo (the name given to the boy at the Ellis-Island-like refugee center) at various times of his life. The film's greatest impact is from the child Schlomo (Moshe Agazai), who must learn new customs, a new religion, Hebrew, Yiddish, and French (of his adoptive parents) at the same, forgetting his Amharic. His initial transition from the refugee camp to modern Israel is astonishing, at one unforgettable moment, while taking his first shower, he is trying to stop the water from going down the drain, panicking at the sinful waste.

Mihaileanu is a skilled, powerful moviemaker: he is sticking to the central message, staying with his characters, keeps telling what is the truth for them, but the direction, acting, cinematography are glossy-professional. What makes the film extraordinary - what creates all the crying in the audience - is its honest and effective portrayal of the young refugee's isolation and loneliness, made worse by his belief that his escape is at the cost of his mother's life, in exchange for a lie he feels he must live, even as he becomes an authentic member of Israeli society.

The cast is uniformly outstanding, but Schlomo's adoptive parents are especially memorable. Moroccan-Israeli actress Yael Abecassis' warmth and strength, Moroccan-French actor Roschdy Zem's rough integrity create a true and enviable family environment - but there is nothing easy or false about the young refugee's difficult journey and internal tribulations.

OK, so i may have some gripes with it artistically, but when you consider the fact that this is one of the first feature films dealing with the migration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel made by people who actually lived through the experience, those factors become less important. This film has spirit, and that is hard to come by these days. It's imperfections, I think, lie in the fact that this story has been kept under wraps for so long and it was difficult for the filmmakers to know where to begin. It touches on most of the major issues that refugees face in Israel, and is a strong and inspiring beginning to opening up this experience to further filmic treatment. Word has it that the distributors are currently trying to get enough viewer-ship for this film to reach New York and LA, so please support this film! It is an experience not to be missed.

In my opinion, Radu Mihaileanu, the genius director of 'Train de Vie', has created his masterpiece in his second film. This is the story of an African boy who returns to life from the brink of death. The movie depicts his fight, his ambitions, passions and the power of love. It is a very weird experience for me to enjoy a movie telling the story of a black Jewish! boy. I think, this movie must also play a very important role in the war against racism. There has been a huge conflict for decades in Middle East between Palestine and Israel. I hope that the sense of humanity and love in this movie will help ending all conflicts on earth. Never forget that same creator has created all of us and Adam was a redskin.

Just returned from the first screening of this movie. An amazing start to the Berlinale Film Festival. It was long (2 and 1/2 hours), absorbing, well-scripted/acted, and very moving. The director and the lead actor were there afterwards and we applauded them heartily. This is what a film festival is about.

The basic plot follows the life of a young Ethiopian boy, Shlomo, whose mother realizes that he can be saved if he poses as one of the Falashas, the Ethiopian Jews. They were clandestinely airlifted to Israel from Sudan in the mid 1980s. This is a story of migration,assimilation and identity through the eyes of an individual. It shows how Israel deals with these 'different' Jews, how he deals with not really being one of them, how he is adopted by an idealistic left-wing family, falls in love with a young Israeli girl whose father is a racist, and his ongoing inner-dialogue with his mother still somewhere in a Sudanese refugee camp. Very multi-layered, critical without being moralistic and preachy. Unlike Mr. Mihaileanu's other big movie "The Train of Life" this is not a comedy, but it contains plenty of warmth and humor, and also stars a Shlomo.

I saw this at the Shanghai film festival,it was called there -Live and become- I knew nothing about it. It is one of the few film that gave me a history lesson as well as complete entertainment. I really didn't notice the Cinematography or even the music. the story was encapsulating,and albeit fiction,had that real aura that made you think that something identical or very close ,has actually happened. The young Schlomo was excellent as was the mother-in fact I really couldn't find a weak performance. If you liked The Last Emperor or Dances with Wolves this movie should have a similar effect. I know quite a lot about both the countries involved in this story and I thought the director was flawless in portraying each culture. He was also flawless in taking you down one path, and just when you thought it was safe and predictable-he would rush you to another, surprising, even better place. It taught me things I didn't know and brought out emotions that have been dormant a while. A stimulating,informative masterpiece.