Dharma on the Roof

I saw two films this weekend that both featured oppressed groups struggling to find their place within the larger culture. “Born into Brothels” is a beautiful Oscar-nominated documentary about the children of sex workers who grow up in the red light district of Calcutta. A photographer named Zana Briski went to India to photograph the lives of women there. While visiting with some prostitutes in one of the most squalid parts of Calcutta, she immediately formed a bond with many of the young children who were living in the brothel. These kids tend to be left for dead by the rest of Indian society, even the local charities seem reluctant to help. Briski decided to organize a photography class in the brothel. She gave each of the kids an inexpensive camera and set them loose in their neighborhood. The results were truly amazing and their photos ended up being exhibited in galleries and auctioned off by Sotheby’s. Most of the adults these kids come into contact with have nothing but disdain for them so it was heartwarming to see how the attention of one outsider made such an impact on their lives.

Many of the young girls in the film know they are approaching the age when they will be expected to “join the line” and their sad acceptance of that fact just breaks your heart. The boys face other problems but certainly are heading to a life of misery unless they can get some kind of education. Some of the mothers do their best, but they are victims themselves of this societal system. In several cases the grandmothers and great-grandmothers were also prostitutes in the brothel. Briski makes it her mission to get some of the kids into boarding schools to give them a shot at life outside of the red light district. Overcoming all odds including the complex Indian bureaucracy which makes it almost impossible to get these kids papers because they are the children of “criminals,” she is finally able to place a number of the children. The real heartbreak of the film comes during the end titles when we learn which of the kids were removed from the schools by their parents to go to work in the brothel.

If ever you needed proof of how the arts can transform lives, I implore you to watch this film and see how the creativity they are allowed to express gives these kids an entirely new lease on their seemingly hopeless lives. I hope this film wins the Oscar. All the money Briski is making from the film, as well as all proceeds from the sale of the children’s photos goes towards getting kids in similar situations into good schools. Check out the website for Zana Briski’s nonprofit organization, Kids with Cameras. This woman should get a Nobel Prize in addition to her Oscar.

Yesterday Leah and I went to a special screening of “Fiddler on the Roof” at the Cinematheque here in Hollywood (you can see what fans we are of the Super Bowl!). I first saw the film in 1971 at the Lincoln Village Theatre. The film was a Huge Deal among the North Side Jews of Chicago. It was the first time I remember ever getting reserved seats for a movie and ticket prices were an unheard of $3.00! I’ve seen the film many times since then on video and DVD and always enjoyed it, but part of me dismissed it as a fun but schmaltzy icon of the 1970s. That was not my experience last night. Far from seeming dated, the story of Tevye the Milkman and his five daughters resonated more with me now than ever, it was like I was seeing it for the first time. It didn’t hurt that we were watching a gorgeous 70mm print on the huge screen at the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre and that Production Designer Robert Boyle was there answering questions. Boyle also art directed films such as "North by Northwest" and "The Birds." I always get uncomfortable when people talk about the “universality” of stories such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Diary of Anne Frank” because to me it always seems like a marketing ploy to make sure the Gentiles aren't scared away, but you really could make a connection between the Jewish inhabitants of Anatevka and the beleaguered residents of troubled spots the world over, from Armenia to Zagreb.

Leah was also deeply moved by the film. During the pogrom that takes place during Tzeitel’s wedding, she gripped me tightly. Seeing the tears running down Leah's cheeks made me cry as well, and we were both infuriated by the wanton destruction at what should have been such a happy event. I did have to give her some background about the Jews in Czarist Russia since Leah kept thinking it was the Nazis who were wreaking such havoc. They'd arrive on the scene soon enough, I thought. As if the Jews of Europe didn't have enough problems dealing with our "Allies," the Russians.

I don’t think I ever fully appreciated the intricate emotional layers of Topol’s Tevye, all the more remarkable considering he was only 34 when the movie was made. I remember hearing director Norman Jewison (who is not Jewish—go figure!) say that he used to pluck his own gray hairs out every morning on the set and have them glued onto Topol’s beard and eyebrows to make him look older! Molly Picon was the perfect choice for the matchmaker Yente with her singsong voice that exactly mirrored Yiddish inflections: “Right? Of course right!” Leonard Frey was the definitive Mottel the Tailor. Frey’s other big role in the 1970s was Harold in “Boys in the Band”—the first mainstream American film about gay people. Sadly, he died of AIDS in 1988. Who couldn’t relate to Mottel’s timidity and the life-changing moment when he finally stands up to Tevye? His “Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!” is a line I shout to the world whenever I feel particularly downtrodden. I found Paul Mann’s Lazar Wolf the Butcher very poignant during this viewing. It’s funny how our perceptions of certain characters change as we get older. In the 70s I’m sure I was thinking “Yuck! Tzeitel’s parents arranged for her to marry that old fat guy?” and now I’m thinking “Damn Tzeitel! How dare she spurn that wonderful, kind man! She would have been better off with the butcher!”

I was always surprised that the actresses who played Tevye’s daughters did not go on to big film careers. Rosalind Harris (Tzeitel) bore such a strong resemblance to Barbra Streisand that even Leah commented on it. Francis Ford Coppola must have noticed it too because he cast her as Fanny Brice in “The Cotton Club.” Decades after the movie came out Harris toured as Golde in a stage production of “Fiddler” with her screen papa Topol. From daughter to wife—what’s a little incest between shtetl Jews? Leah declared Michele Marsh’s Hodel (above, with Paul Michael Glaser) as the prettiest of the daughters and I had to agree. I then worried that Leah would interpret pretty as “the least Jewish-looking” since Marsh was the only Gentile actress so I made it a point to say how pretty I thought Tzeitel and Chava were too which was true but then I worried that I was sending the wrong message by commenting on the girls' looks at all. Oy, it’s hard to maintain the right politically correct stance when you’re watching a 1970s movie with a ten-year-old! Neva Small (Chava) made very few other films but appeared in several episodes of “Law and Order.” The cast member who became the most famous, oddly enough, was Paul Michael Glaser, who played the revolutionary Perchik and soon went on to “Starsky and Hutch.” Frankly I thought he was a little too Starsky-ish in “Fiddler” but, of course, I have only admiration for the Pediatric AIDS Foundation he created with his late wife Elizabeth.

May I reserve my most lavish praise for Norma Crane’s Golde? Where I once saw a stereotypical shrieking guilt-inducing Jewish mother, I now sat awestruck, watching a complex woman with the strength of 10 men and a capacity for love that enabled her large family to thrive in their bleak hand-to-mouth existence. Besides being the funniest character in the film ("So, my Lord and Master has decided to return home!" I am a slave to Jewish-style sarcasm, Golde’s primary method of communication), Crane delivered some of the film's most poignant moments such as when she mutters “Another blessing!” with a little shrug to mask her panic at adding yet another guest to their meager Sabbath table. The way she slowly and wordlessly walks back to the house after Tevye rejects their daughter Chava for marrying outside the faith should have won her an Oscar. Golde’s back is to the camera but Norma Crane could say more with her back in a long shot than many actors are able to convey in a well-lit close-up. Let’s hear it for all the strong Goldes of this world—the women who may be yelling at their loved ones and dripping with sarcasm but without whom Jewish families could simply not exist. What a shame Norma Crane died of cancer a few years after "Fiddler on the Roof" was made. She was 45.

Kendall and I recently saw the revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway but unfortunately star Alfred Molina was sick that day. Last week Harvey Fierstein and Andrea Martin took over as Tevye and Golde, interesting choices indeed. I think they are both perfectly suited for the roles! Did you know that Bea Arthur was the original Yente the matchmaker (isn’t she a full three feet taller than Molly Picon?) and her “Maude” daughter Adrienne Barbeau appeared briefly as Hodel. Bette Midler made her Broadway debut as Tzeitel and even Pia Zadora played one of Tevye’s daughters during the show’s eight-year run.

Oy, I’ve droned on about this film longer than Paul McCartney’s halftime show at yesterday’s Super Bowl. I guess that’s the beauty of stream-of-consciousness blogging. What if Tevye and Golde had blogs? Maybe then it wouldn’t have taken them 25 years to express their love for each other.

Tevye: Do you love me?
Golde: I'm your wife!
Tevye: I know...but do you love me?
Golde: Do I love him?
For twenty-five years I've lived with him
Fought with him, starved with him
Twenty-five years my bed is his
If that's not love, what is?
Tevye: Then you love me?
Golde: I suppose I do.
Tevye: And I suppose I love you too.
Both: It doesn’t change a thing
But even so
After twenty-five years
It's nice to know.

Comments

[David]

Danny:

You know, it's a shame FIDDLER has become a schmaltz icon. It's an amazing achievement, all the more so for being a musical -- one that reaches the pinnacle of the art form, because the music becomes so intricately a part of plot, setting and character, that you don't sit there and wonder, "Why is this idiot breaking into song?!"

BTW, I loved your posts on name-dropping in L.A. So I thought I'd throw this in: Sheldon Harnick is a distant cousin of mine!! That and $4 will get me a grande latte at Starbucks.

It's great you saw it with Leah. Shows like FIDDLER can make her proud to be an actor.

--David

[danny bee]

do you know these people? i am watching the awards on TV
i have one question. i feel Zana was scandallous in that she appeared
at the awards ceremony looking like a hooker herselF! and the movie is
supposred to tell people the sadness and dangers of prostitiution via
the kids, and yet she appears with her own breatsts hanging out of her
dress like a hooker. it ruined the award for me. i feel she should
have dressed more conservatrively. you don't win friends that way.
what do you think?>

jeez, she could have dressed with a better PR message. <...> that kind of outfit was
denigrating to the people she documented. what on earth was going on
in her head.

i want to email her and tell her face to face. do u know her email address?

dont get me wrong. i love what she and ross accomplished. i salute
the, and i know they are good people. but i am a PR nut from way back
and i feel she blew her chance for understand. how could she be so
DUMB? or insensitive.? there is a world beyond hollywood, watching.

sigh.

and this:

from an Indian national:

> First of all I have not seen this film BROITHELK KIDS so I would not comment about
> the film-making/art aspect of it.
>
> However, I read about the film and honestly find it pretty pathetic.
>
> Looks like the film-makers are trying to follow the well established
> path: Pick up one wretched corner of the developing world, picture the
> misery of the people and use them for personal gains and throw in
> couple of western (white) characters and show them as saviors of the
> poor 'third-world' souls.
>
> Its true that some Westerners actually do things to help these people
> but vast majority just love to talk about these issues in parties
> particularly the guilt-ridden, patronizing liberal ones. The
> film-makers goes at length to show the bureaucracy in Kolkata schools
> but don't bother to even mention literally hundreds of Indian social
> organizations that play important role in protecting the existing
> prostitutes and rehabilitating others. Kolkata in particular is very
> active in terms of welfare of prostitutes. Prostitutes in Kolkata are
> organized in union and they enjoy legal protection and the spread of
> AIDS is minimal due to active health-care programs. Of course, the
> film-makers won't show it because the people doing real work are not
> westerners, they are Indians. If someone is making a documentary film
> it should be factual not a fairy tale story of white angels saving
> poor and dark people.
>
> This is exactly the same reason Hotel Rwanda won't get the Oscar
> because the heroes of the film are black Africans not westerners.
>
> In any case, the film-makers have a right to make any film they want.
> As long as they don't exploit poor children of the 'third-world' for
> making money its okay. Local media in Kolkata says that the
> film-makers raised false hope among the children and they are worse
> off after taking part in the film. If the film-makers are so desperate
> to picture misery maybe they should take their camera to the
> inner-city slums of New York and picture the troubled and often
> criminalized kids of those neighborhoods. Lets see how much people
> enjoy that! If you really want to watch a good film about poor kids
> living in many slums in urban India, watch "Salaam Bombay" by Mira
> Nair. Its an excellent film but unlike this one does not portray slum
> kids as weak, poor and dependent on western generosity. It depicts the
> reality about how actually the slum kids fight for their survival and
> fight against incredible odds.

[Danny]

Dan, I respectfully disagree with your assessment that Zana Briski ruined her PR opportunity or looked like a "hooker" at the Academy Awards. I think she was just dressing for the occasion along with everyone else in attendence there. Just because her film deals with such serious issues incuding the plight of prostitutes in India doesn't, in my opinion, mean that she needed to dress in a more chaste manner at such a supposedly "glamorous" Hollywood event. I don't think she hurt her credibility at all (she is a photographer/filmmaker, not one of Mother Teresa's nuns!), I just wish she had used more of her short acceptance speech to talk about the issues in her film. I also take issue with the comments from the "Indian national" who has not even SEEN the documentary! Say what you like about the filmmakers' motives (which I think were above reproach), but you can't deny this film is creating awareness about the plight of these children of sex workers among many thousands of people who otherwise would never have given these kids a second thought. It's also an inspiring tale of how the arts can change lives, even in the most dire of circumstances. It's true that the filmmakers are Westerners and I don't doubt that this helped the distribution of the documentary, but I don't think that is a valid argument for dismissing the film entirely, as "Indian national" seems to want to do without having seen it first. Briski does discuss the Indian organziations that were trying to help this community but she also covered the bureaucratic obstacles that were making this difficult. That said, I'm sure it's NOT a perfect documentary that gives a full picture of the situation. Maybe "Indian national" should try to make one?

Oh, and I don't know any of these people but I'm sure you can contact Zana Briski through her website. Thanks for your comments!

[Brian Jensen]

I just recently watched Fiddler on PBS and I agree with your blog entirely. It is a beautiful movie that only gets more beautiful with age. It made me want to be an actor (which I am) and it made me want to be a Jew. (I became Catholic instead - an "adopted" Jew). L'Chaim!

[abdul rahim]

It is a great movie that becomes greater with every passing year. The performances are stellar. Too bad the cast was so touched by tragedy -- Crane died of cancer, Glaser's wife and child died of AIDS, and so did Frey.

[Heather]

I have always loved this film (Fiddler)I recently introduced it to my 9 and 5 year old daughters. They both loved it. They attend a Jewish Day School really connected to the characters and story. I also had a deeper appreciation and change of perception since the last viewing.

[Catherine]

Hello...I'm watching Tivo'd "Fiddler" as I read your comments - I can't agree more with your observations. I loved the film as a girl, and I've seen it on TV a few times over the last 36 years and it's only now that I, too, appreciate the many layers and nuances of the characters. I look forward to reading the rest of your thoughts on other subjects, after "Fiddler" is over, of course!

[TJ]

I always thought that TZEITEL was the most beautiful of Tevye's daughters. And I still do. If I could meet and marry a girl as pretty as her, I'd be a happy man...

[Michaelira]

I agree with TJ. Tzeitel was/is a true Jewish beauty. Bravo to Rosalind Harris. Am watching Fiddler (the movie) on PBS as I type this. It ages like the finest port wine.

[KD]

I love this film, always have and i've never thought it was shmaltzy...people who think that are likely really ill-educated. The music alone is astoundingly good. Personally, I always liked Chava. A very difficult relationship indeed.

[Jane]

I also think Tzeitel is the prettiest - she's beautiful, actually - and I'm a shiksa!

[beldujour]

The Yiddish word for matchmaker is shadkhan, a match is a shiddukh. Yenta is a woman's name, likely derived from the French Jeanette. If we're going to educate our Christian friends, let's give them correct information.