Dorman’s engrossing film tells the tale of a rebellious genius who created an entirely new literature. Plumbing the depths of a Jewish world locked in crisis and on the cusp of profound change, Aleichem was not just a witness to the creation of a new modern Jewish identity, but one of the very men who shaped it. “A rich . . . modern history of East European Jewry. . . Conjures the look and vitality of shtetl life so vividly you can almost . . . smell the pungent aromas of the cooking.”—Stephen Holden, New York Times.
Appears in: 23rd Portland Jewish Film Festival
Genres: Documentary
Other Films by Joseph Dorman
The Zionist Idea (AKA Colliding Dreams)
This ambitious examination of the origins, meaning and future of the Jewish national movement chronicles birth at a moment of crisis to the thriving democracy of today. The film opens in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, and then recounts the early settlement of Palestine and the resulting Arab clashes, the evolution of disputed occupied territories, …