I thank Efraim for his cogent criticism of ASESINO, directed by Nurit Kedar (Keidar?), which I had recommended in an earlier posting. Having trusted the very knowledgable programers of The Toronto Jewish Film Festival, who selected ASESINO for screening in 2003, I had no idea it was so deeply flawed. I did see it on May 7, and it left a very strong impression which stays with me even today. I've looked at this review:
"Disappeared: A Flawed Film on Argentina's Past Blames Wrong Party", by Noga Tarnopolsky. The Forward, May 16, 2003. <http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.05.16/arts1.html> Tarnopolsky, described as "a freelance writer living in Jerusalem and a frequent contributor to the Forward... is writing a book on the disappearance of five members of her family", completely agrees with Efraim's comments. She notes: "Research has shown that they were not sought out specifically because of their Jewishness (the Argentine military had the Stalinesque ambition to rid the nation of leftists, intellectuals and thinkers - in short, anyone who could be defined as 'subversive') but were treated significantly worse than non-Jews when in detention." This fits with Efraim's comment that "the Jewish 'desaparecidos' were not at all 'Jewish martyrs'. They were martyrs or victims of Human Rights violations, in the most of the cases [where they were] 'of Jewish origin". However, I offer two points in support of my earlier contention with which Efraim "deeply disagree[s]". First, I think it reasonable that the (mostly) young people who were "disappeared" came to their beliefs in social justice and human rights in some significant degree because of their Jewish education and/or cultural background. Second, as Tarnopolsky says (and as has been noted in an earlier posting) the Jewish prisoners "were treated significantly worse than non-Jews when in detention", no doubt because of the inherent anti-Semitism of the military regime. Tarnopolsky also confirms "that Israel did in fact sell arms to the Argentine generals for years" and says that Prime Minister Shamir "explain[ed] that Argentina, like apartheid-era South Africa, was a 'devil' with which Israel found itself obliged to deal in arms in order to guarantee the survival of its indispensable military industry." While I find it very difficult to accept the 'realpolitik' of such behaviour, especially considering how corrupting it can be to national Jewish values, I was also enlightened by Tarnopolsky's description of how the Israeli embassy "developed a policy of handing out false passports to individuals - Jewish or not - who managed to flee detention centers or who felt their lives in danger. Israel's embassies in Buenos Aires and in Santiago, Chile, functioned as de facto nerve centers for those needing to escape, and in this way hundreds of lives were saved. No other country comported itself in a comparable manner." Unfortunately, in her careful and nuanced review Tarnopolsky does not comment on the film's claim that the Knesset only debated the question of Jewish "desaparecidos" and the overt anti-Semitism of the Argentinian military regime after the junta was overthrown and the Argentinian government returned to civilian control. Perhaps this point can be clarified by others on the list? By the way, I hope members of the list don't think that this discussion of the film is off-topic for Hasafran, because there may be libraries which either already have a copy of it or that may be considering it for purchase. Shavua tov, Bernard. Bernard Katz, former head, Special Collections and Library Development McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph author, descriptive bibliog. of L.M. Montgomery's books (in progress) and founding treasurer, AJL - Ontario Chapter Ha-Safran (The Librarian) Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
