Hiding & Seeking (Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Documentary: B
I think I have found a new hero for our times. His name is Menachem Daum and this crusader
(besides keeping the truth about The Holocaust alive) is also battling against
knee-jerk reactions to terrorism and extremism with history and faith in Hiding
& Seeking (2003), another unbelievably powerful and exceptional
documentary from filmmakers Daum and Oren Rudavsky. The previously reviewed A Life Apart remains one of most
talked about and read documentary reviews to date and they are creating one of
the most important series of works in the field today.
To take this one step further, Daum decides to take his
two Ultra-Orthodox sons to Poland in hopes they will see history undeniably and
not be sucked into the mutually destructive thinking that other religions but
theirs are getting extreme in an attempt to annihilate their beliefs. The highjacking by extremists is getting worse
and worse. Poland was one of the ugliest
battlegrounds for Jews to survive against The Nazis at their most vicious,
quite an amazing low considering their murderous world tour of Fascism. Despite annihilating the entire city to find
every Jew they could kill and bring the city to their knees, there were good
people who still managed to hide and help Jews survive and escape certain
genocide.
In this case, those who survived were able to reestablish
their religion in the United States and they have gone on, but the scars never
heal. When in Poland, they have to
track down the people and the place where the gift of life and survival
occurred. Though you may think you know
what to expect, there are things you may not and in how this program begins,
the context adds a vital layer that makes this remarkable must-see
viewing. Hiding & Seeking is
a remarkable sophomore effort and we’ll be waiting for more.
The letterboxed 1.78 X 1/16 X 9 image originates on NTSC
video, but is not bad and is mostly composed of new video footage. Occasional old black and white film footage
surfaces, but this is for the most part pretty much from scratch as it
were. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
standard with no surrounds, but good clarity expected from a recent recording. Extras include nine stills in a photo gallery,
an excellent interview with the co-directors at about 13 minutes that updates
the main program, text biographies on both and trailers for four other New
Yorker DVDs including A Life Apart.
All of this is time well spent.
- Nicholas Sheffo
