Today we had the second annual Selman program called REEL
Learning: Unlocking the Power of Film in Jewish Education with
AVODAarts. The presentation focused on
two short films and on the kind of observations, analysis and learning that can
take place in the visual medium as in the literary one.
About 50 teachers attended the program and came away with
tremendous respect not only for the presenter Debbie Krivoy, but for the power
of film to connect with themes and ideas that we already discuss throughout our
curriculum, including reward and punishment, good and evil, standing idly by,
Israel and Zionism, sympathy, treatment of other people and animals, and so
on. It also allowed for penetrating
artistic analysis, the kind that transcends the actual messages, which too
often become trite as soon as you articulate them. I once mentioned (in an entry perhaps two
years ago) that the most important lesson I ever learned about art was that if
you could relay the entire message in words, what point was there in the art
itself. This lesson liberated me to
enjoy art more viscerally and more freely.
Yes, the message is part of what we are looking for in great art, but it
must move us beyond the message—it must make us identify with the characters or
with the scene; or it must make us look at the same scene with a different
perspective; or it must make us draw connections where we do not yet draw
connections. This is also what separates
great art from banal art; great movies from banal movies; great literature from
banal literature.
In the case of the two films today (one a Holocaust film,
the other a film set in contemporary Israel by Yitz Brilliant, a recent
MJBHA graduate), the dialogue took a back seat to the gestures, movements, and
non-verbal communication. It was in
these silences that reams of dialogue (and emotion, thoughts, fears, mischief)
was taking place. The films drew us in
to the characters subtly but incredibly powerfully and the conversations that
took place afterwards among the teachers were a testament to how deeply
provocative they were, making us think about the more nuanced messages of
bravery, of empathy, of creating connections and relationships, even of a
certain degree of hopelessness.
In showing the films a second time, the Ms. Krivoy made it
even clearer to all of us just how much more there was to notice, interpret and
ponder…and this, too, is a hallmark of great art. After all, mediocre art can be seen,
interpreted and digested on the spot.
Seeing it again provides marginal benefit. But really good, thought-provoking art makes
us think more profoundly each time we see it (much like the Torah, if we read
it properly.)
We are deeply appreciative of the sponsorship of this
program by Tom and Miriam Selman in memory of Miriam’s father Robert Stern and
very grateful for the opportunity to expand our horizons beyond the curriculum
that we currently teach. Following the
program, I heard so many of the teachers thinking about exactly how they could
incorporate some of the techniques into their own classroom, and even if only a
few follow through, that helps to enrich our students’ experience
considerably.
