Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 January 1995 — Page 9

Media Watch

January 11, 1995 NAT 5

Woody Allen’s ‘Bullets' is on target

By RABBI ELLIOT B. GERTEL In the space of only a couple of months. Woody Allen has offered not one but two films, one to the big screen and one specifically tailored to the

small screen, though made from recycled threads, as it were. The big screen film, Bullets Over Broadway, is sheer delight. It is also one of Allen's most pleasant films, reminiscent of the truly benign spirit of Radio Days (1987). The writing is witty and invigorating; the direction and filming are studies in pacing and style; the parts, whether caricatures or siyjous, are perfectly apportioned and played, particularly the hood with a heart for playwriting, and nothing else, brilliantly played by Chazz Palminteri. Bullets Over Broadway is exactly what Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) should have been but was inept at being — a study in the struggle between ends and means, integrity and talent, professionalism and ruthlessness, aesthetics and brutality. It is far more honest and amusing than Crimes and Misdemeanors was, and manages to expose in startling ways the arrogance and evil that can easily dominate the aesthete caught up in the idolatry of perfectionism. Of all of Allen's films, Bullets Over Broadway is definitely more like it. More like what? Dealing with significant issues in a thoughtful and heartfelt way, rather than with formula cutesiness. What preoccupies him here is the issue of "the artist or the man," a refrain constantly repeated. Is one's identity or character molded by one's art, for good or evil, for affection or contempt, for love or loathing, or does one have to cultivate virtues and graciousness and morals apart from the artistic enterprise? And does the artistic enterprise somehow handicap the

cultivation of such virtues, or does it merely reflect whatever qualities are already present or lacking in a personality? What if one is not the real artist one thinks oneself to be, and does it matter if the real artist is a vicious murderer who will kill for the sake of his art as he will murder for the gang? There is, by the way, a lot here that would compare, or at least warn of similarities, between the drives of the aesthete and the gang mentality. This film does not glorify the mobsters of the 1920's, but spoofs them in a rather chilling way that speaks volumes about the gangs of the 1990's. Thankfully, Allen does not get bogged down here in bogus "Jewish" issues and hu-

mor.

The thoughtfulness and

considers the bad advice of Marion's brother. He would rather have taken a cabana in Atlantic Beach, but she balked at the prospect of hearing him complain about over-freck-ling while sitting in the sun. So now they are seeking sanctuary at the American embassy because the local government regards them as dangerous spies since Walter broke tourist rules and took a photograph — and in a very suspicious direction, according to the locals. They run to the embassy, begging to be granted asylum on the grounds that they are "good people." Actually, to Walter's chagrin, Marion had initially described them as "church people" — a reference to Jewish self-conscious-ness and fearof being rejected

Allen also offers another staple of his "religious" humor in many films — spoofs of the Catholic Church, in this case, a "tricky" Catholic priest, played by Dom DeLuise, who has been hiding out in the American embassy because of his anti-Communist activities, and whose secret code words to the resistance are filled with off-color silliness.

maturity Allen shows in Bullets Over Broadway make me wonder why (except for the obvious financial opportunity) he would reach back into the trunk and offer the ABC network one of his old, dated efforts, the Cold War farce of 1966, Don't Drink the Water. Allen managed to assemble a fine cast for his play revival a la TV movie, including Michael J. Fox, Dom DeLuise, Josef Sommer, Mayim Bialik, and Julie Kavner, who has already enhanced many of his films. And Allen himself appears in this one, whose chief virtues are a handful of good one-liners and a shot at starting a vulgar trend of nostalgia for Cold War close calls. In the play/film, Allen and Kavner play Walter and Marion Hollander, a Jewish couple from Newark, N.J., who have traveled to Eastern Europe with their daughter Susan (Bialik) on what Walter

that, fortunately, will need to be explained to younger viewers. As for the family background, we learn from Marion that Walter's parents were from Russia and loved it, leaving only because "they heard there was going to be a pogrom and they had just purchased new dishes." Allen also offers another staple of his "religious" humor in many films—spoofs of the Catholic Church, in this case, a "tricky" Catholic priest, played by Dom DeLuise, who has been hiding out in the American embassy because of his anti-Communist activities, and whose secret code words to the resistance are filled with off-color silliness. The presence of the Hollanders at the embassy causes riots in the street, international incidents, shootings and injuries, friction with the chef, and a host of other prob-

lems for the pleasant but bumbling embassy official (played by Fox) who is filling in for his father, away in Washington seeking political opportunities. The young man in charge definitely has no aptitude for the diplomatic corps, but will find his true calling in life through his love for Susan. On the "Jewish" themes there is little here but lost and found ironies. The "perspective" on the Cold War is even less insightful. And Arabs are badly stereotyped in the form of a visiting emir and his. harem whose only purpose in the plot is all too obviously contrived. At the "climax" of all the "farce)" Allen has the young diplomat ask the priest if he

will perform a ceremony for him and Susan — ostensibly, but not explicitly, as a justice of the peace rather than as a priest. Susan does make a remark about wanting a rabbi ("Are there any rabbis in the underground?"), and it is interesting that Allen felt that he had to pose that question in the sixties (unless the line was added, rendering its addition significant). Sadly, that irony may go unexplained to a lot of young viewers, who wouldn't bother asking if it is intended irony because they have seen so much of it in the reality. So, ironically, the only worthwhile nostalgia in this film may well be for the days when that final wedding scene actually had shock value.

Gutmann on Art

History and Judaica

By JOSEPH GUTMANN The historian Geoffrey Ba rraclough wisely cautioned that "The history we read, though based on facts, is, strictly speaking not factual at

■

all, but a series of accepted judgments." Nothing testifies to this more than the recent article by Alexander Putik, "The Origin of the Symbols of the Prague Jewish Town: The Banner of the Old-New Synagogue. David's Shield and the 'Swedish Hat,"' which appeared in the 1993 issue of Judaica Bohemiae. Putik convincingly shows that the well-known banner still hanging in the famous Old-New Synagogue is first mentioned in 1490. The accepted fact that the 14th-cen-tury Emperor Charles IV granted the Jews the right to use the banner and that, in addition, the so-called Swedish hat on the banner was a

reward for heroism the Jews displayed in the battle against the Swedes, are based on legends and are unfounded. The 1490 banner was replaced under Ferdinand I in the 16th century and served until 1716 when considerable deterioration made it necessary to substitute a replica. Putik also demonstrated that the hexagram (now called Magen David) did not become the emblem of Prague before the 1530s. Thus, the early Jewish use of the Magen David in Bohemia, advocated by the late Gershom Schoiem and others, must be revised. Shalom Sabar of the Hebrew University continues to enrich our knowledge of the decorated Jewish marriage contract (ketubbah). He points out that Jewish marriage contracts have survived from the second century CE on. One was found in a cave of the Judean desert. Still, the most sumptuous examples were produced in Italy for a period of about 200 years, roughly from 1650 to 1850. Sabar contributed to an exhibitioin catalog Ebrei a Lugo: l contratti rmtrimoniali (Lugo, 1994), wherein he described Continued on page 14