UK Jewish Film Festival 2011: Reviews
Posted: November 21, 2011 | Author: Vera Litvin | | Tags: How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire, jewish film festival, Salsa Tel-Aviv, ukjff |Leave a comment »
by Vera Litvin
How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire (2011 / UK / 74 mins / English/ Dir. Dan Edelstyn) and Salsa Tel-Aviv (2011 /Mexico-Israel/110 min/ Spanish & Hebrew/ Dir. Jorge Weller)
These two very different UKJFF films deal with weighty issues including the consequences of Bolshevik terror on a Jewish family and illegal immigration in modern day Israel but they do so with a light touch.
In documentary How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire director Dan Edelstyn discovers a “treasure trove” of papers belonging to his grandmother Maroussia Zorokovich. Musician, writer and dancer Maroussia lived in the Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and Dan finds himself inexorably drawn into her exciting world, full of romance and danger. The film re-creates this world through a mix of inventive animation, archive footage, re-enactments and voice-overs reading Maroussia’s beautiful prose. The use of a monochrome palette with occasional flashes of red to indicate the terror of the Bolshevik Revolution is very evocative.
However, this is not a heavy or oppressive documentary. For one thing, Maroussia’s writing carries a strand of optimism, whether she is touring as a dancer to keep up the morale of the White Army or getting married while survival to the next day is uncertain.
The other thing that keeps the film from being yet-another-history-documentary is the “vodka” twist. Journeying back to the Ukraine to trace his ancestry, Edelstyn discovers a vodka factory which once belonged to his great-grandfather. The factory is located in a dead-end Ukrainian village where unemployment and alcoholism are rife. What does Dan do? He decides to resurrect the Zorokovich Vodka Empire and feed the profits back into regenerating the village. And so we simultaneously follow him on a journey not only into the past but also into the business of professional vodka importing. Interspersed with momentous events in Dan’s personal life, self-confessedly low budget and home-spun, the film gives you a warm feeling similar to downing a shot or two of the famous Zorokovich vodka. You cannot help hoping that the enterprise succeeds and that Edelstyn will be able to make some difference to the lives of the inhabitants of his adopted Ukranian village.
Salsa Tel-Aviv is a funny and big-hearted feature film. It stars famous Mexican actress Angélica Vale as Vicky – who turns in a fantastic performance as the most unconvincing nun since “Sister Act”. Dressed in a nun’s habit in order to enter Israel to work illegally so she can send money home to her son, salsa dancer Vicky meets reserved Israeli scientist Yoni on the plane. From then on, it is Yoni she turns to whenever things go wrong, as they repeatedly do, and gradually a warm bond is established between the two. With plenty of sizzling Latin music and dancing as well as farcical situations this film sweeps you up in its rhythm and charms you, while letting you glimpse the difficult choices some people are forced to make to provide for their families.
How to Re-establish a Vodka Empire can be seen at the Curzon Soho on Tuesday 6 December 6.30pm. For more information visit http://www.myvodkaempire.com/