November 3, 2008

Silver Jew

http://www.projo.com/movies/content/lb_silverjew_06-06-07_BB5M1UJ.1f06df8.html

"Director Michael Tully’s documentary, Silver Jew, chronicles the three-day life-changing visit to Israel in the summer of 2006 of “born-again” Jew David Berman, front man for the band The Silver Jews.

Although the band had been together since 1992 and had recorded many albums in that period, it had never toured. But that changed with a European tour that Berman made sure included Israel where he discovered that he had many many fans he never knew about.

Silver Jew includes scenes from concerts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in which the lyrics are often hard to understand in the din of nightclub noise. Intercut with these concerts are visits to Christian and Jewish holy places, as well as shots of everyday street scenes in those cities, giving a feel for ordinary life there. There also are scenes in which Berman rambles on and on philosophically about his feelings toward Judaism. This, for him, is a sort of rock tour pilgrimage in which he gets to connect to his roots. The emotional high point of Silver Jew comes when he recites a prayer handed to him on a flyer at the Wailing Wall and breaks down in tears."

I can only hope the movie is better than this preview.

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