You are now entering the Jewish Currents archive.
December 29: The First Hebrew Feature Film
Oded Hanoded (Oded the Wanderer), the first feature film made in Hebrew, directed by Chaim Halami, premiered at the Eden Cinema in Tel Aviv on this date in 1932. Based on a children’s story by Tsvi Liberman, the silent film portrays the adventures of Oded, a dreamy boy from a moshav who gets lost in the Jezreel Valley on a class outing. Oded has encounters with primitive but hospitable Bedouins, an awkward American Jewish tourist, and a variety of animals. “In a typically didactic effort,” says MyJewishLearning.com, “the film emphasizes the importance of working the land and restoring a Jewish connection to it.” To see an excerpt, look below. To read an interesting analysis of the film’s ideology, click here.
“[T]he major interest in watching the film stems from its attempt to deal with the conflict between the collective and the individual.” —Uri Klein
I’m Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. Before you go, I need to ask something of you.
In recent years, I’ve watched as mainstream Jewish institutions and media have chosen ethnonationalism over liberal democracy and mass slaughter over the pursuit of a just peace. Jewish Currents offers something different. It’s a magazine built on intellectual curiosity and respect for the dignity of all people.
But a project like this doesn’t sustain itself, and we can’t do it without your help. If you share my belief in the importance of this mission, please consider making a donation—or even better, a recurring one. We need you with us.
