Two dramatic Jewish-themed films will be screened in July in Boca Raton and Delray Beach .
“Righteous,” a 2016 Polish drama based on a true story about a Jewish orphan who was hidden during the Holocaust by a Polish couple, will be screened on July 11 at 1 p.m. at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center’s Phyllis & Harvey Sandler Center in Boca Raton.
“La Juive,” a 2003 French film screening of a Jewish opera, (“The Jewess” is the title translated from French) will be screened on July 15 at 1 p.m. at Temple Anshei Shalom in Delray Beach.
“Righteous” had its U.S. Jewish film festival premiere last March at the newly named Judy Levis Markhoff Boca Raton Jewish Film Festival to positive comments from audience members leading Wendy Honig, artistic director of the festival, to schedule an additional screening on July 11.
“Given that the current Polish government passed a law making it forbidden for anyone to accuse the nation of complicity in the Holocaust makes the film even more significant to audiences,” said Honig.
“Righteous” focuses on the story of Jewish orphan Hania, a six-year-old child, who is hidden during the Holocaust by a Polish couple. Many years after the war, Hania, who now resides in Israel, returns to Poland to see the family that saved her life and ask them to share the honor awarded by the Yad Vashem Israeli organization with the title “Righteous Among the Nations.”
The story, told with flashbacks to Hania’s life in the Holocaust as well as her journey to Poland from Israel as an adult, has much drama as the Polish family is reluctant to accept the award.
The story also features the relationship of Hania with Pajteck, a young man who forms a friendship with the orphan, whom she meets again years later.
The film builds to a climax with unusual twists to the story regarding new facts that Hania learns about her years in hiding during the Holocaust.
“There is perception by some that all the Polish people were hostile and negative towards Jews during the Holocaust,” said Honig.
“Righteous” is important to see because the audience learns how a village in Poland came together to rescue a Jewish girl. Kudos to director Michal Szczerbic for making the film,” said Honig.
For tickets at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center’s Phyllis & Harvey Sandler Center, 21050 95th Ave S., call 561-558-2520 or go to levisjcc.org.
“La Juive” starring Jewish American tenor Neil Shicoff, is the revival of the famed Jewish opera that was filmed at the Vienna State Opera House in 2003.
“We chose to screen ‘La Juive’ because it is a story that demonstrates the constancy of anti-Semitism and is told in a magnificent way,” said Paulette Ballin, fundraising vice president of Temple Anshei Shalom.
“La Juive” is the Jewish opera depicting the story of a Jewish woman who falls in love with a Christian man and how the distrust and the hostility between Christians and Jews in their communities erupt to a dramatic climax and tragedy.
“This opera is remarkable with voices and emotion that stay with you. This tragic tale of religious intolerance, set in the year 1414, is as relevant today as when it debuted at the Paris Opera in 1835,” said Ballin.
“The fact that ‘La Juive,’ which has been performed around the world for 100 years and was nearly stifled out of existence by the Nazis, made its revival 70 years later is a triumph,” said Linda Cooper, president of Temple Anshei Shalom.
The film runs for 176 minutes with one intermission and free refreshments.
For tickets at Temple Anshei Shalom, 7099 W. Atlantic Ave. in Delray Beach, call 561-495-1300×5 or go to templeansheishalom.org.