Educational Media Reviews Online

Born in Budapest in 1860, Benjamin Ze’ev Herzl is known for forming the World Zionist Organization and is widely considered to be the founder of the modern political Zionist movement and as a primary visionary of the State of Israel.

Director Eli Tal-El presents a fairly personal narrative here, with the film’s focal engagement revolving around interviews and the work of various people influenced or studying Herzl and carrying on Herzl’s legacy in some way today. The idea of the film itself began when the filmmaker’s brother-in-law David Matlow, a prominent Canadian attorney who is also the [self-described] owner of the world’s largest private collection of Herzl memorabilia, treated 27 of his closest friends and family members to a trip to Basel, Switzerland – a locale seminal to Herzl’s history as the site of the first Zionist Congress.

Other interviews include: a pilgrimage with members of the Habonim-Dror movement led by Silvio Joskowicz (primarily comprised of a small group of international students recently making Aliyah); playwright and director Yafim Rinenberg whose play Herzl’s Quorum is heavily influenced by Herz’s diaries; playwright and performer Adi-Etziyoh-Zak who focuses her work on Herzl’s wife Julie; Hebrew University Professors Robert Wistrich & Ariel Feldstein; and Dr. Motti Friedman who is another leading Herzl memorabilia collector and the former director of the Herzl museum in Jerusalem.

Through these interviews, the film introduces Herzl’s illustrious background; his schooling and work as a journalist, author and playwright; influences of his family; and what made him the man he became. Theories on Herzl’s charisma, his religious beliefs, his involvement in the arts and the arguments surrounding influences of the Dreyfus Affair on his journalism and movement toward Zionism are also discussed. This debate continues – whether Herzl was assimilated and when – what influence the Dreyfus Affair had – and what of his early writings on Judaism like “The New Ghetto.” No matter on which side of the argument folks align themselves, they all seem to agree that the last eight or nine years of Herzl’s life were in complete sacrifice to Zionism and ultimately at the detriment of his wife and three children. Herzl spent his family’s fortune (technically, Julie’s fortune from her father) on supporting the movement. Upon his and Julie’s deaths (she died only four years after Herzl), their children were sent to separate foster homes. Sadly still, each of the three children died in separate tragedies not too long after their parent’s deaths.

Director Tal-El’s filmmaking strength lies in the narrative construction and placement of these interviews, with the story paying equal tribute to both Herzl’s private life (often cleverly told through playwright Adi-Etziyoh-Zak’s dramatic prose) and public pursuit of a Zionist State. The interviews with Herzl scholars help anchor the discussions of Zionism and pair well with the more personal reflections of Matlow. Tal-El’s light touch with these interviews allows differing perspectives to emerge unfettered and often results in an easy camaraderie between his subjects and camera. Where the narrative holds merit, technical elements of the film are not as strong including an overly repetitive/ever-present musical track, often-shaky camera, and some ill-framed interviews. Ultimately, however, the film works as a helpful introduction to Herzl and a jumping off point for discussing why Herzl’s work remains very relevant today.

This film would be appropriate for junior high up through adult audiences as an introduction on the subject of Herzl. This film is relevant to these subject areas: Jewish studies, Israeli studies, European studies, Middle-Eastern studies, Zionism, history, and philosophy.