October 16–23, 1997

movie shorts

The Long Way Home

recommended

After World War II, Jews who survived Hitler's extermination campaign were now subject to the anti-Semitism of the victorious Allies and the "liberated" nations. Many ended up in squalid camps little better than the ones they'd been freed from, while their former persecutors were being rebuilt as a bulwark against Communism. At last, only Jews would help Jews, and the fight was joined in earnest to create a Jewish state. This documentary, produced under the auspices of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, is in fact propaganda for that state on the eve of its 50th anniversary. With its expert mix of interviews, narrated memories and archive film, it is, admittedly, darned effective propaganda, sticking to the real arguments for Israeli independence.

—Sol Louis Siegel