Bourekas film

This article will address the topic of Bourekas film, which has generated interest and debate in different areas of society. Bourekas film has captured the attention of researchers, experts, and even the common citizen, due to its relevance and impact on various aspects of daily life. Over the years, Bourekas film has been the subject of analysis, discussion and reflection, giving rise to a variety of opinions and perspectives on this topic. In this sense, it is of great importance to deepen the knowledge and understanding of Bourekas film, with the aim of enriching the debate and promoting a comprehensive and critical vision in this regard. Therefore, along the following lines different dimensions of Bourekas film will be explored, with the purpose of offering a complete and objective look at this topic of relevance to today's society.

Bourekas films (Hebrew: סרטי בורקס) (named after bourekas) were a genre of Israeli-made comic melodrama films popular in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s.

History

Haaretz film critic Uri Klein describes Bourekas films as a "peculiarly Israeli genre of comic melodramas or tearjerkers... based on ethnic stereotypes".[1] They were "home-grown farces and melodramas that provided escapist entertainment during a tense period in Israeli history".[2] The term is said to have been coined by the Israeli film director Boaz Davidson, the creator of several such films, as a play-on-words on the "Spaghetti Western" genre, known as such because that particular Western subgenre was produced in Italy. Bourekas are a popular food in Israeli cuisine, it is also named because of a scene from The Policeman in which the title character offers one of his co-workers a boureka.

Although Bourekas films were some of the most successful in the box office, they typically received terrible reviews from critics. They were described as low-brow and vulgar, and an inaccurate representation of Israel that was detrimental to its image.[3] In critiquing Sallah Shabbati Biltzki in Al HaMishmar said, "Because parties in Israel are presented not only in the distorted mirror of a distorted humor but also in the ugly mirror of the image of public and organizational life...One has to think twice if such a film should represent us abroad".[4]

At the end of the 1970s, the popularity of the Bourekas film declined. In the 1980s, Israeli films became more politically charged and began to address controversial topics. Nowadays many of the Bourekas films have gained cult status in Israel.

Themes

The main theme in most Bourekas films is the conflict between ethnic cultures in Israel, in particular between the Mizrahi Jews and the Ashkenazi Jews, and in colonialist terms, between the "third world" (Mizrahi) and the "first world" (Ashkenazic).[5]: 212  The protagonist is usually a Mizrahi Jewish man, almost always poor, canny and with street smarts, who comes into conflict with the institutions of the state or figures of Ashkenazi origin—mostly portrayed as rich, conceited, stuck-up, cold-hearted and alienated. In many of these films, actors imitate different Hebrew accents, especially that of Jews originating from Morocco, Persia, and Poland. They employ slapstick humour, alternative identities and a combination of comedy and melodrama.

Zuckermann (2005) argues that although "burekas films like Snooker (Boaz Davidson 1975) and Hakham Gamliel (Joel Silberg 1974) are regarded by many as the epitome of Mizrahi culture, are hybridic and modelled upon Ashkenazic shtetl life as in Kuni Lemel (Two Kuni Lemels a.k.a. The Flying Matchmaker) and shtétl Kabtsíel in Méndele Móykher Sfórim's Beémek Habakhá."[a][5]: 213 

In a book entitled "Israeli Bourekas Films: their Origins and Legacy"(2023),[8] the scholar Rami Kimchi claims that the portrayal of Israeli Mizrahi communities in these films bears a strong resemblance to the portrayal of the 19th century East European shtetl by classic Yiddish writers Kimchi attributes the commercial success of these films to their "hybridity", i.e. they were Israeli/Mizrahi and Diasporic/Ashkenazi at one and the same time, thereby satisfying the political, sociological, and psychological needs of both Mizrahi and Ashkenazi audiences in Israel. He believes eleven films produced between 1964 and 1977 make up the corpus of the genre. Kimchi also points out that the bourekas pattern has remained relevant to contemporary Israeli cinema and that there are two contemporary Israeli subgenres that are influenced by the historical Bourekas films: Neo Bourekas and Post Bourekas . Neo-Bourekas are films that innocently reproduce the paradigmatic representation of the Mizrahi neighborhood of the historical Bourekas films while adapting it to the current time and place, while Post-Bourekas are films that consciously copy several features of the aforementioned paradigmatic representation and exaggerate their performance to the point of creating a parody.[9]

Actors and directors

Bourekas films were highly successful in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s, but were also criticized for being shallow. Some of the main actors and directors were:

  • Ze'ev Revach: an actor and director who participated in many popular Bourekas film comedies such as Hagiga B'Snuker (1975), Charlie Ve'hetzi (1974), Rak Hayom (1976), Gonev Mi'ganav Patoor (1977), Ta'ut Bamispar (1979), Ha-Muvtal Batito (1987), Lo La'alot Yoter (1979), Sapar Nashim (1984), Pa'amaim Buskila (1998), and more. Revach eventually became the person which is most identified with the Bourekas films and continued to create those films until the end of the 1980s.
  • George Ovadiah: a director who created many melodramas which were influenced (and at times copied) from the Turkish cinema. The most prominent of his films are : Ariana (1971), Nurit (1972), Sarit (1974), West Side Girl (1979), and more. Obadiah also created comedies like Nahtche V'Hageneral (1972), Fishke Bemilu'im (1971) and Koreyim Li Shmil (1973).
  • Yehuda Barkan: an actor and director who participated in many Bourekas films such as Lupo (1970) and Lupo B'New York (1976), Katz V'Carasso (1971), Charlie Ve'hetzi (1974), Hagiga B'Snuker (1975), Bo Nefotzetz Million (1977) and more. Barkan also played in the 1980s Abba Ganuv film series and directed them.
  • Boaz Davidson: a director of many Bourekas film comedies such as Charlie Ve'hetzi (1974), Hagiga B'Snuker (1975), Mishpahat Tzan'ani (1976), and Lupo B'New York (1976). His films Charlie Ve'hetzi and Hagiga B'Snuker had a 'revival' in the 1990s and a status of Israeli cult film status.
  • Yosef Shiloach: Played in several Bourekas film comedies, in parallel with a set of dramatic and more serious roles he played in a variety of Hollywood films. A character which is identified with him in particular is "the Persian"—a somewhat sensual grotesque who possesses a strong Persian accent.
  • Tuvia Tzafir: Played in several Bourekas films, particularly in the role of the grotesque "Ashkenazi" character.
  • Menahem Golan: a director and producer of many fiscally successful Bourekas films such as Fortuna (1966), My Margo (1969), Lupo (1970), Queen of the Road (Malkat haKvish) and The Contract[10] (both 1971).
  • Haim Topol: Starred in Sallah Shabati (1965) before his breakout Golden Globe-winning role in the 1971 film adaption of Fiddler on the Roof.

Subgenres

Gefilte fish films (from "Gefilte fish"), also known as "bourekas for Ashkenazim", are a marginal group of Bourekas films that feature Ashkenazi protagonists and Jewish ghetto folklore.[11] Some films in this subgenre include:

Notable films

Several prominent Bourekas films are listed below in chronological order of production.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Beémek Habakhá ("In the Vale of Tears"): Yiddish title: "Dos vintshfingerl"[6] ("The Wishing Ring")[7]

References

  1. ^ And Then There was One, Uri Klein, Haaretz
  2. ^ Overview: Israeli film
  3. ^ Shohat, Ella (2010). Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (New ed.). London: I.B. Tauris Co & Ltd. p. 124. ISBN 9781845113124.
  4. ^ Biltzki. "Another Opinion on "Sallah Shabbati"". Al HoMishmar.
  5. ^ a b Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2005). "Abba, why was Professor Higgins trying to teach Eliza to speak like our cleaning lady?: Mizrahim, Ashkenazim, Prescriptivism and the Real Sounds of the Israeli Language", Australian Journal of Jewish Studies 19, pp. 210-231.
  6. ^ "Dos vintshfingerl"
  7. ^ "The Wishing Ring"
  8. ^ Kimchi Rami, Israeli Bourekas Films: their Origins and Legacy, Indiana University Press,2023
  9. ^ Kimchi Rami, Israeli Bourekas Films: Their Origins and Legacy, Indiana university Press,2023
  10. ^ Meir Schnitzer, Israeli Cinema: Facts/ Plots/ Directors / Opinions, Kinneret Publishing House, 1994. P. 118.
  11. ^ Shohat, Ella (2010). Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (New ed.). London: I.B. Tauris. p. 114. ISBN 9781845113124.
  12. ^ From the Archive: Israel's impressive losing record at the Oscars - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  13. ^ 1965|Oscars.org
  14. ^ "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" Wins Foreign Language Film: 1965 Oscars