Educational Media Reviews Online

Saga of a Photo is at once a personal biography (at times insular and moody) and a broader, more public depiction of the nascence of Israel’s National Theater and Film Industry. Director Mooli Landesman’s grandmother was Margot Klausner, an important figure in the foundation of Israel’s Habimah National Theater and the undeniable first lady of the Israeli Film Industry – with her studio (the first in Israel) Herzliyah built in 1949.

Using a mix of family photos, home movies, archival film footage, interviews with her mother and uncle as well as dramatic re-enactments based on Margot’s diaries – Landesman presents a rich and complex telling of Margot’s early life of privilege in Europe, her introduction to Palestine and the Yishuv, and resulting life’s work in helping articulate a National arts and cultural identity for Israel via theater and film. The archival footage and Margot’s personal narrative provide useful glimpses of Berlin prior to Nazi occupation, 1920’s Palestine and Israel as well as a unique perspective of the formation of the Habima National Theater and Herzliyah Studio.

Margot, a German Jew, was raised among Europe’s affluent class, the youngest daughter of the Leiser Shoe Company co-founder and scion, Julius Klausner. Julius was self-made, originally from Poland; he built the Leiser Company with his uncle Hermann and instilled a strong work ethic and desire to achieve in Margot. Landesman begins her film reflecting on her grandmother Margot as she is shown walking through a field in Israel. She then traces Margot’s story back to a single photo of her grandmother on her wedding day in 1926 Berlin, Germany. Margot met and married Jacques Rosner when she was little more than 19. From her diaries, we hear that Jacques impressed Margot with stories of Israel and introduced her to “the Jews’ existential problems…” which Margot states “filled her life from then on.” What began as a honeymoon in Palestine, turned into many months of travel and time spent on Kibbutz. When they returned to Germany for Margot to give birth to their daughter Miriam many months later, Jacques noticed that Margot was restless, apparently longing for the country and people (and one man in particular - Yehoshua) she had become enamored of during their travels. Margot desperately wanted to return, but Jacques wanted to remain in Berlin. Eventually, their friends from Palestine visit them in Berlin accompanied by members of the Habimah acting troupe. The troupe’s passion for their work and ideals spoke to Margot and her desire to participate in the building of Israel and particularly the National Theater was cemented. As Margot’s story continues to unfold, we learn Margot leaves Jacques for Yehoshua and departs Berlin for Israel. Once settled in Israel, she begins a new family with Yehoshua and imparts on her life’s work with a seemingly singular focus.

Sections in the documentary film where Landesman toggles back and forth between the past and present, juxtaposing portrayals of 1920’s and contemporary Berlin are particularly resonant. Footage of Margot’s parents Julius and Dora happily attending a party; Jacques and Margot’s wedding photo at an opulent hotel; and several Klausner home movies poignantly provide a dissonant visual backdrop for the tragic narrative describing Julius being forced from his ownership of Leiser Shoes and eventually Berlin by the Nazis. Landesman is careful to note that Margot’s parents luckily escape Germany in 1937 to Holland and then move on to Argentina. Landesman is equally successfully in her combination of contemporary family interviews interwoven with archival footage from Habimah productions and several corresponding entries from Margot’s diary. What results is a better understanding of Margot’s relationships with her children and her trajectory in helping articulate a national arts culture for Israel. But something is missing.

Landesman seems to intend an intimate portrait of her grandmother, providing personal footage of Margot and her family along with passages lifted directly from Margot’s diaries and letters, yet the audience remains at arms length. Interviews with Landesman’s mother and uncle reveal dissatisfaction with their mother Margot – that only appears to scratch the surface. Details of Margot’s ousting from Habimah and the early formation of Herzliyah feel equally incomplete and beg further attention. Here, one could imagine a documentary focused on the formation of Herzliyah alone. The array of important films produced by Herzilyah that Landesman presents in a montage, is effective. And it was helpful for her to point out that the studio was not faring well financially even though it was making great strides in articulating a national cinema. Films like “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer,” “I Love You Rosa,” and “The Boy Across the Street” went on to win international acclaim at festivals in Venice and Cannes. Here, Landesman underscores the irony that it was the Eichman trial that Margot lobbied to film and resultantly sold to countless news outlets, that ended up providing the studio with much needed money to help them keep running. Ultimately, this documentary is successful in introducing Margot Klausner and acknowledging her seminal role in both the Habimah National Theater and the film industry of Israel.