Exodus (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Exodus |
| Original title | Exodus |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 208 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Otto Preminger |
| script | Dalton Trumbo |
| production | Otto Preminger |
| music | Ernest Gold |
| camera | Sam Leavitt |
| cut | Louis R. Loeffler |
| occupation | |
| |
Exodus is an American feature film from 1960 based on the novel of the same name by Leon Uris . Director and producer was Otto Preminger , the soundtrack was composed by Ernest Gold and the screenplay was written by Dalton Trumbo . The almost three and a half hour monumental film is considered a Zionist epic . Great importance is attached to the perception of the Middle East conflict in the USA in favor of Israel .
action
The film mixes - just like Leon Uris in the novel - historical events with fictional storylines that serve the drama of the film material.
The American nurse Katherine "Kitty" Fremont ( Eva Marie Saint ) was employed in an internment camp in Cyprus in 1947 , where thousands of Jewish " displaced persons " from Europe were housed. These are mostly homeless concentration camp survivors who tried to emigrate to the British mandate of Palestine , but had been intercepted by the British and interned in Cyprus because they were still following the policy of the 1939 White Paper . Here, Kitty meets Karen Hansen ( Jill Haworth ) and Dov Landau ( Sal Mineo ). Karen is a 15-year-old German-Jewish girl from Denmark whose father is missing, and Dov is a 17-year-old Polish-Jewish survivor of the Shoah who was deployed in the Auschwitz special detachment and sexually abused by the guards. Meanwhile, Ari Ben Canaan ( Paul Newman ), a member of the Haganah , manages to travel from Palestine to Cyprus unnoticed. His role is based on the model of Jossi Harel . With the help of the Cypriot Mandria he organized a ship to bring the Jews to Palestine. Ari then disguises himself as a British officer in order to present the local military administration with a fake order according to which the Jews are to be officially brought by ship to Hamburg , but in reality to Palestine. As the ship, on which the Jews then arrived, is leaving port, the British realize that the order was a forgery. They manage to block the ship's exit. However, they refrain from boarding after the Haganah threatened to blow up the ship and its passengers with dynamite. Ari then calls the ship's passengers on a hunger strike in the hope that the British will let them go. He gives the passengers 20 minutes to decide whether they want to take part in the hunger strike or return to the camp. The vast majority choose to go on hunger strike. Then the food is thrown overboard, the ship is renamed Exodus and the white and blue flag with the Star of David - the later flag of Israel - is hoisted. Kitty is allowed on the ship as a nurse, where she inquires about Karen. There she meets Ari. Ultimately, the British give in and let the Exodus go to Palestine. Essential elements were carried over from the La Spezia affair to the Exodus in the film.
The second part of the film takes place in Palestine and shows the final months of the British mandate before the founding of the state of Israel. After the exodus arrives in Haifa , Karen and Dov Gan are assigned to Dafna, a kibbutz near Mount Tabor , where Ari lives and where his parents and sister also live. Kitty accompanied Ari, Karen and Dov to Palestine. Kitty and Ari fall in love as the film progresses. Same goes for Karen and Dov. Dov joins the Irgun in Palestine , whose local branch is led by Ari's uncle Akiva ( David Opatoshu ). Because Dov was forced to blast holes for mass graves in Auschwitz, he is familiar with handling explosives, so that he can now apply this knowledge in the service of the Irgun. The relationship between Ari and his father Barak with Akiva is strained. Ari accuses Akiva of damaging the international reputation of Zionism through his terrorist activities; Barak ( Lee J. Cobb ) has completely broken off contact with Akiva and counts him among the dead on Yom Kippur . After Akiva's people carried out the bomb attack on the King David Hotel , in which 91 people (including many British soldiers) were killed, the British manage to catch everyone except Dov. From now on Dov is wanted by the military. The prisoners are then sentenced to death by hanging by a tribunal and await execution in the British Central Prison in Akko . Ari and his people now offer to work with the Irgun to free Akiva and his men from death row, but the Irgun initially distrusts the Haganah. Eventually, however, both sides choose to abandon their mutual distancing and work together because they believe that this is the only way they will have a chance in the upcoming Arab-Israeli war . In a spectacular rescue operation, they actually succeed in freeing Akiva and his men by blowing the prison walls free with Dov's help (here the film is based on the Akko prison breakout , in which 28 members of the Irgun and Lechi were freed) . Ari and Akiva are shot while trying to escape. Akiva dies a short time later, but Ari manages to flee to Gan Dafna. In order to avoid a search operation by the British in Gan Dafna, the seriously wounded Ari is housed in Abu Yesha, an Arab village that lies next to Gan Dafna. Here is his longtime friend Taha ( John Derek ), with whom he grew up together, the mukhtar of the village. Kitty tends to Ari's wounds there.
When the UN partition plan for Palestine was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 29, 1947 , enthusiastic cheers broke out in Gan Dafna. Ari is also happy about the decision, but Taha can't share his joy. That evening he speaks to Ari that Ari has gained his freedom and that he has lost his. He also said that he was never more aware than that day that he was a Muslim . Taha then learns from the former SS officer von Storch ( Marius Goring ) that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini , has ordered Gan Dafna to be attacked because this is a strategically important point in the coming war. Taha should provide 300 men from his village for this purpose, who are to be supported by 80 Arab soldiers who were trained by von Storch and are under his personal command. Taha is torn inside: he does not want to attack the inhabitants of Gan Dafna, but neither does he want to defy the orders of the Mufti, because otherwise he will feel like a traitor to his people. Finally, although he does not defy the order, he warns Ari that this Gan Dafna should evacuate so that no one can be killed. Gan Dafna is then completely evacuated , except for a few guards from the Palmach . The next morning, Ari and the Palmach people wait for the attack from Abu Yesha, which, contrary to their expectations, does not materialize. So they decide to attack Abu Yesha themselves. When they arrive in the village, however, they discover that it is deserted. The Mufti's people changed the plan: because Taha had betrayed the plan, they abandoned it and had Abu Yesha evacuated instead. Ari and his people also discover that Taha was killed: he was hanged, a Star of David carved into his torso, and a swastika painted on the wall next to his rope. At the same time, Dov finds out that Karen was also killed the night after she briefly visited him at his guard post. The bodies of Karen and Taha are then buried by the Palmach people. The film ends with Ari giving a funeral speech for both of them, during which he vows that the day will come "when Arabs and Jews will live together in peace in this land they shared so many times in death."
Others
Exodus was shot as an ensemble film. The later famous singer Esther Reichstadt (known as Esther Ofarim ) can be seen for the first time as Mrs. Hirschberg in a supporting role . Ernest Gold's Oscar-winning theme melody has been reinterpreted several times, including by Jorge Morel , Belina , Angelika Milster , Ana Štefok , Bad Manners , Apollo 100 , Ferrante & Teicher , Eddie Harris , The Duprees , Édith Piaf , Anthony Burger , Connie Francis , Mantovani , Maksim Mrvica , Martin Böttcher , Secret Chiefs 3 and Billy Stewart . Pat Boone wrote the lyrics to the theme song in 1961.
Reviews
"Filmed in the style of an action-packed tension piece, whereby the intellectual and political-historical background is very simplified. The serious endeavor to make every human being's claim to freedom and dignity shine through from the adventurous plot nevertheless ensures the film's sympathy. "
“The unsuccessful attempt at a historical picture. For adults who are capable of judgment. "
Awards
- 1961 - Oscar for Ernest Gold for best film music as well as a nomination each for Sal Mineo for best supporting role and Sam Leavitt for best color photography
- 1961 - Golden Globe for Sal Mineo for Best Supporting Actor
- 1961 - Grammy for Ernest Gold for the score
- 1961 - Golden Laurel for Sal Mineo as best supporting actor and a nomination each for Paul Newman as best leading actor and Lee J. Cobb as best supporting actor
literature
- Leon Uris : Exodus. Roman (Original title: Exodus ). German by HE Gerlach. 17th edition. Heyne, Munich 1998, 844 pages, ISBN 3-453-13834-1
- Tom Ryan: Otto Preminger Films Exodus, a Report, Random House 1960.
- Tony Shaw: Cinematic Terror: A Global History of Terrorism on Film. Bloomsbury, London and New York 2015, ISBN 978-1-4411-0708-4 , in particular Chapter 4: Epic Freedom Fighters (pp. 62–81)
Individual evidence
- ^ Certificate of Release for Exodus . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2012 (PDF; test number: 24 684 V).
- ^ Identity politics on the Israeli Screen . Yosefa Loshitzky page 2
- ^ A new Jewry ?: America since the Second World War. Peter Medding, p. 77.
- ↑ Cinema and the Shoah: an art confronts the tragedy of the twentieth century . Jean-Michel Frodon, Anna Harrison, p. 175.
- ^ Envisioning Israel: the changing ideals and images of North American Jews . Allôn Gal, p. 297.
- ↑ Said, Edward. Propaganda and War .
- ↑ Omer Bartov. The "Jew" in cinema , p. 189
- ↑ Roland Boer. Political myth: on the use and abuse of Biblical themes . 2009, p. 152.
- ↑ Table of contents at MovieMaster, accessed on September 5, 2012.
- ↑ Pat Boone: The Exodus Song Lyricsfreak.com
- ↑ Exodus. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 609/1961
Web links
- Exodus in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Exodus in the online film database
- Sound carrier with the film music
- Exodus in the German dubbing file