|
Freedom rock By Cheryl EddyTOWERING MOHAWKS, riotous guitar riffs, and eloquent musings on the Middle East: All are present, at times simultaneously, in Liz Nord's Jericho's Echo: Punk Rock in the Holy Land, easily the hardest-rockin' doc in this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Nord, an SF filmmaker and punk fan since her formative years in upstate New York, knew going into the project that conventionality wouldn't have a place in her film. "I definitely wanted to bust stereotypes," she explains in a recent interview, chugging an Odwalla amid the cheerful ruckus at Brainwash. "What it means to be Israeli, what the situation is, and what is a punk rocker." The "situation" Jericho's Echo explores: the daily realities of young adulthood in a volatile, often violent country, a place that requires multiple years of army service starting at age 18 – a time when most American kids are focused on college applications and prom dates. "Israel is the shape of California but the size of New Jersey," Nord says. "You can imagine why tempers are so flared there and people get so passionate on either side. The feelings, the history – everything is so condensed, it's almost palpable." Mainstream youth culture in Israel, Nord says, revolves around dance music; there's also a growing interest in hip-hop, with acts like right-wing rapper Subliminal ("the Israeli Eminem") earning international attention. The underground punk scene is so small that everyone knows everyone else at the shows. Only a few bands, including Jericho's Echo participants Useless ID, claim wider audiences. More moment-in-time snapshot than dissertation on the history of Israeli punk music, Jericho's Echo vividly depicts the current scene, which boasts an energetic mix of pop, hardcore, and every three-chord style in between. Bands perform in Hebrew and English (mostly English) to clubs crowded with sweaty fans. "I think what's happening now is really interesting because things are so tense and wild, and these kids really have something to react against," Nord says. The political views expressed by the bands – some in their lyrics, some only in Nord's interviews – are just as varied. The right-wing bands are staunchly pro-Israel ("I wouldn't want my friends to die for nothing," says one musician, an army veteran). The left-wing bands, whose members are generally younger, speak out against the Israeli occupation; some hope to dodge their military service. But according to Nord, "There's not a good outcome of not going into the army, other than you don't have to risk your life and participate in something you might not believe in. Societally, it's still not really accepted. In extreme cases, you go to jail, or you have stamped on your ID card forever that you're insane." Since she's an enthusiastic music fan who also considers Judaism an essential part of "the deeply rooted fabric of my life," it's easy to see why Nord connected with the Israeli kids in her film. However, her ultimate goal was to make a film for a Western audience – and hopefully open the eyes of young people who know little about Israel beyond what they're taught by the mainstream media. "Something I wanted to make clear to a Western audience is that the issues are not black and white," Nord says. "I don't think a lot of Westerners really know the diversity of the issues, and the complexities of the issues, and frankly, I don't think a lot of Western people even know that there are secular people in Israel. So even though the punk scene is a small, small minority – the nonreligious, mainstream types of Israelis are the majority." (In Jericho's Echo, one Israeli puts it this way: Only a "small percent [of Palestinians] are really fucked-up psychos – just like we have our small percent of fuckin' religious freaks.") Earlier this year, Nord returned to Tel Aviv, where she shot much of the film in 2003, to screen Jericho's Echo at the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival. The rowdy, sold-out crowd was crammed with punk kids from the film. "If someone's opinion came on that they didn't like, they would literally stand up and boo. Like, if a right-wing band said something, the left-wing bands would boo! I thought it was going to totally erupt. But then there was this kind of calm after the storm, where everyone just realized, 'Wow, I'm really in a film.' They had shared with me these personal, political beliefs, and then, bam! They're on the big screen." In Tel Aviv, Nord conducted follow-up interviews with many of her subjects – particularly those who welcomed "a chance to say what they felt about the film, or say what they felt about how their opinions had changed." She plans to include them on the Jericho's Echo DVD, due in September. "Israelis are passionate people. They get really excited and get
really in-your-face, and it was intense," Nord says. "But I
think in the long run everybody really liked the film – and in the
future, when they get more of a global perspective, they'll understand
that it's important for their views to be shown. I think they were self-conscious,
and they didn't understand why anyone would care. But I kept saying, 'Wouldn't
you rather people be hearing about Israel from your perspective, rather
than from [Prime Minister] Sharon's perspective, or the perspective of
the military, or even your parents?' I hope in retrospect they will be
glad that they were able to participate in such a thing." 'Jericho's
Echo' screens July 27, 10:30 p.m., Castro; and Aug 4, 9:45 p.m., Roda
Theatre. www.jerichosecho.com.
The 25th San Francisco Jewish Film FestivalThe festival runs July 21-Aug. 6 at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, SF; Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison, Berk.; Mountain View Century Cinema, 1500 N. Shoreline, Mountain View; and Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. For tickets (most shows $9-$11) call (925) 275-9490 or go to www.sfjff.org. |
||||