"A Shtetl in the Caribbean" describes the odyssey of two Jewish families, the Wiznitzers and the Kirzners, who left the hostile and hopeless lands of their birth and arrived almost accidentally into a new secure life in the Caribbean.
A visual panoply of pastel with most gentle and tranquil shading characterize the Dutch island of Curacao, where they found refuge and opportunity, contrasted with the gray, monochrome of their home countries of Eastern Europe from which they came between the world wars and immediately following the Holocaust. Their escape from tumultuous uncertainty to the tranquility and security of the New World is a gripping story filled with surprises and inspiring hope.
In this masterfully filmed feature-length documentary by Memphis Films & Television of Utrecht in The Netherlands, childhood friends Mark Wiznitzer, a former US diplomat, and Tsale Kirzner, a Dutch entrepreneur, revisit the now neglected Jewish cemeteries and towns that their fathers left in search of a better life.
The story is filmed in several countries and told in English, Dutch, the Papiamento dialect of Curacao, Ukrainian, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish seamlessly tied together with English subtitles.
Dutch Director Sherman De Jesus beautifully weaves the stories of their two families, not only through this striking visual documentary, but also through poignant conversations on both sides of the Atlantic with relatives, long-lost friends, and loyal employees of their two families. De Jesus creates a cinematically superb contrast between both life and death in old Europe and in the New World through the medium of touching interaction between the two close friends and often visually riveting archival material.
From the film's onset, an original musical score by Curacao composer and jazz pianist Randal Corsen, accompanied by the Dutch Matangi String Quartet, engages the viewer with striking, sometimes discordant tones creating the overall mood of uncertainty. Often the music seems to foretell what is to come -- sometimes hauntingly sad, often uplifting. The music seems totally in sync with the story, engaging the listener as he contemplates what is to come next in the film -- to a brilliant result.
Salomon Wiznitzer came to Curacao in the late 1920s. As the story is told, he and his older brother Abram had never heard of Curacao before leaving home, but once they arrived quickly began to create a new life, first as peddlers and ultimately as a successful businessman who would build the island's largest department store.
Similarly, Socher Kirzner and his wife arrived in Curacao shortly after World War II and together worked to establish their own business and eventually helped rebuild Willemstad after riots in 1969 that destroyed much of the downtown area, an event poignantly described in the film.
The Wiznitzers and Kirzners were Ashkenazim - Jews of Eastern Europe who had different traditions, foods, rites and languages than the long-established Sephardic community of Curacao that dates back to the 17th century of Portuguese Jews who had escaped the Inquisition. And so, for a time once a critical mass of Ashkenazim arrived in this most unlikely island paradise they helped recreate a tropical version of the "shtetls," the East European communities of Jewish life, they had left behind.
"A Shtetl in the Caribbean" is a film to be pondered. It is much more than two tumultuous family histories with a positive ending. It is a common story of the lives of so many, as they tried to create a life full of hope, security, and family in the Americas.
A visual panoply of pastel with most gentle and tranquil shading characterize the Dutch island of Curacao, where they found refuge and opportunity, contrasted with the gray, monochrome of their home countries of Eastern Europe from which they came between the world wars and immediately following the Holocaust. Their escape from tumultuous uncertainty to the tranquility and security of the New World is a gripping story filled with surprises and inspiring hope.
In this masterfully filmed feature-length documentary by Memphis Films & Television of Utrecht in The Netherlands, childhood friends Mark Wiznitzer, a former US diplomat, and Tsale Kirzner, a Dutch entrepreneur, revisit the now neglected Jewish cemeteries and towns that their fathers left in search of a better life.
The story is filmed in several countries and told in English, Dutch, the Papiamento dialect of Curacao, Ukrainian, Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish seamlessly tied together with English subtitles.
Dutch Director Sherman De Jesus beautifully weaves the stories of their two families, not only through this striking visual documentary, but also through poignant conversations on both sides of the Atlantic with relatives, long-lost friends, and loyal employees of their two families. De Jesus creates a cinematically superb contrast between both life and death in old Europe and in the New World through the medium of touching interaction between the two close friends and often visually riveting archival material.
From the film's onset, an original musical score by Curacao composer and jazz pianist Randal Corsen, accompanied by the Dutch Matangi String Quartet, engages the viewer with striking, sometimes discordant tones creating the overall mood of uncertainty. Often the music seems to foretell what is to come -- sometimes hauntingly sad, often uplifting. The music seems totally in sync with the story, engaging the listener as he contemplates what is to come next in the film -- to a brilliant result.
Salomon Wiznitzer came to Curacao in the late 1920s. As the story is told, he and his older brother Abram had never heard of Curacao before leaving home, but once they arrived quickly began to create a new life, first as peddlers and ultimately as a successful businessman who would build the island's largest department store.
Similarly, Socher Kirzner and his wife arrived in Curacao shortly after World War II and together worked to establish their own business and eventually helped rebuild Willemstad after riots in 1969 that destroyed much of the downtown area, an event poignantly described in the film.
The Wiznitzers and Kirzners were Ashkenazim - Jews of Eastern Europe who had different traditions, foods, rites and languages than the long-established Sephardic community of Curacao that dates back to the 17th century of Portuguese Jews who had escaped the Inquisition. And so, for a time once a critical mass of Ashkenazim arrived in this most unlikely island paradise they helped recreate a tropical version of the "shtetls," the East European communities of Jewish life, they had left behind.
"A Shtetl in the Caribbean" is a film to be pondered. It is much more than two tumultuous family histories with a positive ending. It is a common story of the lives of so many, as they tried to create a life full of hope, security, and family in the Americas.
