RHUM

A Kaddish is a Jewish prayer. Palestine is the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands - also known as Israel. Pjotr Leshenko was the Russian King of Tango. What do these things have to do with each other? They're all aspects of the film Kaddish For A Friend.

It's a film about anger and dispossession, family and friendship, bullying and race-hatred. Social realism of a need-to-remember-and-understand kind. Our world in a nutshell. Those who take power over others and those who take that power back for all of us. Who learn to share it and nurture it. Such learning isn't always easy, but without it we're lost. As a species.

Kaddish For A Friend explores the relationship between the Jewish diaspora and the Palestinian diaspora living in Berlin through the chance meeting of an old man and a young boy living in a tenement building. It's a small story with enormous ramifications. Can two people put aside thousands of years of anger and find comfort with each other?

The film works because it keeps the story tight. Two men, their families, their friends. It's an allegory rather than a full political examination. It's frightening and sad but hopeful and tender as well. The acting is first class, the writing is faultless and the direction is clear. The only fault is laid at the feet of the bullies of this world. The film doesn't glory in violence but it doesn't shy either.

This film also introduced me to the music of the Pjotr Leschenko, which is pretty damn amazing. For this I am thankful.

4.5 / 5 Stars

Reviewed at Festival of German Films  

Directed by Leo Khasin

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