MOVIE REVIEW:

Yippee: Paul Mazursky Does Uman

Reviewed by Andrij Makuch

In the fall of 2005, acclaimed American film director Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice; An Unmarried Woman; Moscow on the Hudson;  Down and Out in Beverly Hills) embarked on a journey to the Ukrainian city of Uman, some 135 kilometres south of Kyiv. He went there to witness 20,000–25,000 Hassidic Jews making a pilgrimage to the city during Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Concomitantly, this seems to be an attempt by Mazursky to discover more about his roots, his grandfather—to whom the film is dedicated—came from Kyiv.

In the process, he made a 75-minute documentary film named Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy, which was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival late in August 2006.

Uman, the destination of the annual pilgrimage by ultra-Orthodox Jews, is the place in which Rabbi Nakhman of Bratslav (the great-grandson of the founder of the Hasidic movement Baal Shem Tov) was buried after he died in 1810. The Bratslav Hasidim had faithfully come to the city every year until the establishment of  the Soviet regime, when the event was suppressed. In the post-Soviet era, it has again become an intense Jewish religious festival, although now bringing in people literally from all over the world.

Mazursky is accompanied through his adventure to Uman mainly by his friend David Miretsky, who seems to hail from Ukraine but now lives in Los Angeles. The filmmaker has not taken a standard documentary approach to the subject matter and, as a result, the history of Uman, Nakhman and the pilgrimage, and Hasidism in Ukraine are not afforded a detailed treatment. Miretsky serves as Mazursky’s muse, who sparks his initial interest in Uman, steers him during their journey in Ukraine and provides some factual background. But, an overall historical context is missing.

The end product could have been described as experiential if Mazursky had partaken actively in the pilgrimmage. The “problem” is that Mazursky is an avowedly secular Jew. This, ironically, makes him something of an outsider at the event, and we witness numerous scenes in which concerned Hasidim try to enlighten him. In some respects, the film has the feel of a well-made and expensive home movie of a fascinating road trip.

Mazursky is an affable presenter and guide. He may overdo the use of his beloved “Schwartz meets Cohen” joke throughout the film (a running gag that probably evoked much hilarity during the trip, but does not translate well into the final product), but in general he helps move things along nicely.

The film is an absolute disaster in terms of recognizing that a country called Ukraine exists. Mazursky’s grandfather was born in “Kiev, Russia.” When we get to Uman, the people in the expedition end up housed in a “Russian-style” building. Mazursky occasionally has the presence of mind to recognize that he is in “the” Ukraine. I cannot decide whether to paint all this as the “typical ignorance” often demonstrated by North American Jews vis--vis Ukraine or, 15 years after Ukraine’s independence, as a low-level form of disrespect.

Yippee strikingly portrays two relatively recent developments. The first is the revival of Jewish life in Ukraine since 1991. The second is the considerable growth of interest by numerous Western Jews in their Ukrainian roots. Both topics deserve treatments of their own, and I will not expand on them here.

The film may also be seen as part of what may well be a growing trend in mainstream North American cinematic treatments of Ukraine through Jewish eyes or subject matter. In recent history we have seen Everything is Illuminated and the recently premiered Spell Your Name (which, though filmed and directed in Ukraine, will probably get extensive release in North America due to co-producer Steven Spielberg’s A-list muscle). I expect that that this trend will continue, although I expect it will never be a huge phenomenon.

We have no word about plans Yippee’s future distribution. Meanwhile, you can view a trailer at:  http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1080518514