The Testament (2017)

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Movie
German title The testament
Original title Ha Edut
Country of production Israel , Austria
Publishing year 2017
Rod
Director Amichai Greenberg
script Amichai Greenberg
production Yoav Roeh ,
Aurit Zamir ,
Oliver Neumann ,
Sabine Moser
music Marnix Veenenbos ,
Walter Cikan
camera Moshe Mishali
cut Gilad Inbar
occupation

Das Testament (Ha Edut) is an Israeli - Austrian co-production by Amichai Greenberg from 2017 . The premiere of the feature film took place on September 7, 2017 under the 74th Film Festival of Venice , where the film in the section Orizzonti was invited. In Austria, the film was shown on October 5, 2017 at the Jewish Film Festival Vienna and subsequently on March 17, 2018 at the Diagonale . The cinema release took place in Austria on June 8, 2018.

action

Dr. Yoel Halberstam is a 45 year old Orthodox Jew. As a historian, he conducts research on the subject of the Holocaust and heads an investigation committee into a hushed up massacre at the end of the Second World War in the fictional Hungarian-Austrian border town of Lendsdorf. During his research he discovers, among other things, that his mother Fania lives under a false identity and is not Jewish. He goes in search of contemporary witnesses and survivors. He finally finds an Israeli survivor who, like the people of Lendsdorf back then, fears reprisals. And without concrete evidence of the 200 dead Hungarian Jews, the Austrian authorities do not give him permission to excavate in Lendsdorf.

Time is of the essence because the mayor finally wants to give the go-ahead for the construction of the shopping center. With the sealing of the site, however, grass could finally grow over the history of the 200 murdered Jewish slave laborers. Halberstam stayed two weeks to bring witnesses and documents that prove this massacre in the night of March 24th to 25th 1945 and provide an indication of the mass grave. A prayer book by the Jewish forced laborers finally brought the breakthrough.

Production and Background

The shooting took place in March and April 2016, and the shooting took place in Israel and Austria . The film was supported by the Austrian Film Institute , the Jerusalem Film & Television Fund and the Israel Film Fund . The film was produced by the Israeli Gum Films , co-producer was the Austrian FreibeuterFilm . Tamar Gadish was responsible for the production design, Sarit Sharara for the costume design, Klaus Kellermann for the sound and Jana Schulze for the makeup.

In his directorial debut, Amichai Greenberg processed the Rechnitz massacre .

reception

Anne-Catherine Simon wrote in the daily newspaper Die Presse that the production was stylistically simple, but that it was still a special film because of its extraordinary story and the thought it would force the viewer into. “In the end, Halberstam sits without a kippah and a beard in the Austrian courtroom, where he helps to victory as a researcher of the truth; at the last minute he provides evidence of the massacre. This is praiseworthy as a moral appeal and an optimistic avowal - as artistic fiction too striking for an otherwise not at all striking film. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diepresse.com: Venice Film Festival: Waltz, Clooney and Ai Weiwei knight for the Golden Lion . Article dated July 27, 2017, accessed July 27, 2017.
  2. ^ La Biennale di Venezia: Amichai Greenberg - Ha edut (The testament) . Retrieved August 19, 2017.
  3. ↑ JFW 2017 / THE TESTAMENT. Retrieved April 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Diagonale 2018: The Testament . Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b The Testament. In: Austrian Film Institute . Retrieved July 27, 2017 .
  6. ↑ The Story of a Secret . Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  7. ↑ a b Tiroler Tageszeitung: The sealed memory . Article dated June 6, 2018, accessed June 6, 2018.
  8. ↑ diepresse.com: New in the cinema: The woman who pretended to be Jewish . Article dated June 8, 2018, accessed June 8, 2018.