Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

148 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER first night he quarrels with the boys who insist he is an orphan like all the rest of them, he has a iight and runs away again. Through means of this flight, it is possible to show glimpses of Arab shepherd life, and of Caesaria, and finally of the new city of Tel Aviv. Here he is led to seek his family amongst the members of the Palestine Philharmonic orchestra, for one of the \ iol mists bears David's family name, Halevi. David interrupts a rehearsal, where a new Palestine folk symphony is being performed. But the violinist is not from David's country Poland. However, someone knows of a Halevi from Poland, working at the Dead Sea potash plant. Again the boy's journey leads through a section of unforgettable Palestine landscape — this time as he rides a bus down the Jericho road. He passes through the potash works, where Jews and Arabs labour side by side and finds Yehuda Halevi; the worker pretends to be his uncle. As the boy begins to find himself at home with the Halevis, the life of the community is felt— the Sabbath by the Dead Sea, the visit to the neighbouring settlement, the chatter of Palestinian children about their vast projects for electrifying and irrigating the country. But when David discovers that Halevi is not really his uncle he runs away for the last time — to find the office in Jerusalem where, he has heard, there is a record of all the families that have been found. On his journey through the wilderness, he is helped by an Arab merchant who takes the boy to Jerusalem on his camel-train. They enter by the Gate of St Stephen. The boy becomes lost in the maze of the old city and is helped by two priests who find him on the Via Dolorosa. They take him to his own people in the Jewish quarter. (Here, we deliberately avoided the Wailing Wall.) The boy enters a synagogue and from there is directed to the new city. With a troop of children masquerading for Purim, he at last finds the 'office where they have the names'. This Search Bureau for Missing Relatives is actually housed under an ancient ruin, between the new and old cities and the long files of family-records, in the catacombs, provide a perfect background for the climatic moment when David discovers that his family is dead. In his collapse, he has a reversion to infancy. He is taken to the Haddassah hospital on Mount Scopus and there his friends from the first settlement find him. In his phase of infancy he identi fies the refugee woman who has befriended him and the leader of the settlement Hagana as 'mamma' and 'papa'. This moment fuses the story of the child with the story of the refugee woman and her problem is revealed in the following scene, which takes place on the campus of the Hebrew University, adjacent to the hospital. The story moves on to the establishment of a new colony in the Negev by the refugees, together with a Palestinian youth group. The child is brought to the settlement. In ploughing, a stone is turned up bearing an ancient inscription with the name Halevi. Through this incident the boy is brought back to reality, in this symbol he finds his family. The course of this story provided the inclusion of all the self-imposed obligatory scenes, and yet provided this in such a way that every setting added to the dramatic potential of the tale. While it was the director's task to realize the scenes in terms of acting, the finding of the precise locations and the enlistment of the people of each place for authentic background usually fell to the writer. Partly, this was due to my working knowledge of Hebrew and partly to my long familiarity with the country and with Jewish customs. For though the film was made with English-speaking participants the work in the entourage was usually conducted in Hebrew. While all of Palestine was extremely excited by our film project, and more than ready to cooperate, the very intensity of interest sometimes caused difficulties. For the smallest participant wanted to be sure that our point of view was acceptable and every scene was scrupulously investigated. As the population is intelligent and hyper-sensitive this often led to delays and to discussions and explanations which would seem tryingly protracted under ordinary circumstances. In addition to allaying the suspicion of the political groups and of the Arabs, there were difficulties of tradition to overcome. My script for instance envisaged a scene in a synagogue in the Old City. Now, almost all orthodox Jews consider photography as forbidden under the command not to make graven images. How could one 'realize' such a scene? I found the leader of the old-city community and got him to show me an ancient, beautiful, little synagogue behind his own house. It was named, he told me, the Ohr Chayim — the Li\ ing Light. It so happens that I wrote a book of Chassidic tales some years ago and knew that the Ohr Chayim was one of the great rabbis of that mystical sect. This communion of information, coming from an unorthodox American Jew, was the opening point. We discussed Chassidism for hours. And finally we were permitted to film our scene in the holiest of Old City synagogues. In the completed film there are, of course, many things which I feel might have been different, and many things which the director feels might have been different, had there been fewer practical difficulties — such as the curfew, which usually struck as we had finished three hours of preparations and were ready to film. But these are the limitations of the method of shooting in live locations; in return you get the quality of life. As a writer, I believe the labour I put in for six months, after the six weeks I spent in writing the script, was necessary for the fulfilment of an author's responsible share in the realization of this type of film. The goats are among the rocks — even if I had to carry' them there myself. CORRESPONDENCE DEAR SIR, With reference to your reviewer's comments on my book British Film Music, may I correct him on two points of fact? First, I did not say that the GPO Unit became known as Crown Film Unit in 1939: (Page 106 . . . 'Although the name was not altered until some months after the outbreak of World War II, the GPO Unit became in effect the Crown Film Unit a few hours after Premier Neville Chamberlain had announced the fateful news that Britain was at war . . .' I Secondly, in the case of the film October Man. Kenneth Pakeman wrote three short pieces of music before the film went into production for use in the film ; subsequently, the music was not used in the final version and William Alwyn was called in to provide the entire score for the picture. I have to thank the reviewer for his correction in the case of Stricken Peninsula. JOHN HUNTLE1 FOR 'EDI OLA FILM EDITING MACHINES AND OTHER CUTTING ROOM EQUIPMENT IN 35 MM & 16 MM PHOTOGRAPHIC ELECTRICAL Co. Ltd 71 DEAN STREET, W.I PHONE: GER 4633 FOR PROMPT SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE