Search - Zelimo on DVD

Zelimo

Karl Verebey | New Jersey | 04/02/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This film is about a young Russian boy's comming of age. His first experience in the former Soviet Union was discrimination, because he was a Jew. While escaping through the border his father is killed. Zelimo, the

young boy feels responsible for his father's death.

Arriving to America in the 1950s the McCarthy idialogy is rampant. While in a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills he is ridiculed and humiliated for his presumed communist background by a camp bully and his gang. He becomes a loner and plans to burn down a bungalow where the camp bully and his gang is sleeping. The revange is successful.

The movie asks questions about the responsibility for the aggression

and wether or not it could have been stopped before its execution.

In view of the recent shooting violance at Virginia Tech and the previous disaster at Columbine HS,this movie should be a must showing at every high school and perhaps in colleges as well. The film is an excellent motivator of discussions for identifying and preventing similar violance in the future."

Unique Rite of Passage

Charles Kempler | CA United States | 03/24/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"ZELIMO is an atypical memory film that captures in modest, sensitive strokes a personal view of growing up Russian Jewish in New York around the time of the Cuban Missle Crisis. The acting ensemble is uneven, but the genuine emotional force comes through with distinction. For a first feature film, Rosenberg launches his narrative with clear conviction and fairness to the period. Renowned boyhood films such as 400 BLOWS and MY LIFE AS A DOG become more important as years pass and these film films take on legendary status in cinema. ZELIMO, although not in this privileged league, will grow in significance as more discerning viewers discover it.



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