Customer Reviews

The Dybbuk

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This film is exceptionnal. Not only it was shot in yiddish in Poland four years before Hitler's agression, but also it relates a fantastic story of love beyond life and death, good and evil in a mystic community of religious Jews (hassidim). Eventually, the actors and the scipt are excellent, and the religious songs strongly emphasize the mysticism of the story. It's a real "chef-d'oeuvre", an ultimate cry of love in a world condamned to disappear, and the dance of the bride with the death has a prophetic flavour.

Note: Yiddish with English subtitles.

`The Dybbuk', released in '37 is a cinematic time capsule providing the viewer with a mesmerizing glimpse into a world that no longer exists. While '37 was a long time ago (70 years come 01/07) the film has a feel, no an atmosphere, that seems much older. Filled with magic, superstition and Jewish mysticism, it is a veritable compendium of Yiddish culture, religious practice and belief. While such subject matters will clearly command the attention of a very select audience it is an immensely important film nevertheless.

Synopsis: Two young people, Leah (Lili Liliana) and Channon (Leon Liebgold), fall hopelessly in love but are unable to wed because Leah's Father plans for her to wed a wealthier suitor. Heartbroken, Channon turns from his pious ways and calls upon the "Powers of Darkness" to come to his rescue and help him secure his desired bride. Unfortunately Satan isn't in the business of bringing young lovers together to live happily ever after. Only sadness and grief lie ahead.

This is really quite a watch, kind of an Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal' meets `Fiddler On The Roof' with a little touch of `The Exorcist' thrown in for good measure. Definitely not for everyone, but if you're in the mood for something totally different and are willing to put in the time and attention to explore the darker teachings of Kabala and Jewish mysticism this will serve as a great primer.

My rating of four stars reflects the dvd transfer of this movie. While the movie is a part of film history and itself worthy of five stars, the restoration of the movie leaves a lot to be desired. The movie is in Yiddish, with English subtitles. This film being black and white, it is very hard to read the white subtitles. It would have been easier to read if the subtitles were yellow.
Channon falls in love with Leah. Unbeknownst to them, but knownst to us, their parents made a sacred pact that if one fathered a boy and the other a girl, they would be wed. One father dies and years later, the pact is forgotten about. I will not give away the rest of the story, but this movie has a lot to do with Kabbalah and numerology, as well as the interesting topic of exorcisms within the Jewish faith. It also has a character that can dissappear and reappear at will and also communicate with the dead.
This is a truly interesting film. I suggest this to anyone interested in Yiddish, as well as those interested in Kabbalah/Jewish Mysticism.

I saw this film several years ago in NYC when it was first restored by the National Center for Jewish Film, and it was an incredible job. Their DVD is the one to get. I bought Bel Canto's VHS version, and it had the same captioning (rather, NON-captioning) problems that their DVD here apparently has.

The movie is simply incredible and powerful. Highly recommended. But NCJF's version is best. Fully captioned, and contains all extant footage.
www.jewishfilm.org

I saw this movie many years ago. This is a deeply moving story and I think Bergman must have seen it for it predates Bergman but is done in the same style that he uses. It is eery and tragic beyond anything. A spirit simply materializes on a road (this is 1937) and warns two fathers about plighting their son and daughter into matrimony. Tragic events ensue. A great and heart rending love story.

This is a first-rate version of the Yiddish classic, which tells the story of a dybbuk - the soul of a dead person who can't let go of someone he/she loved, and returns to inhabit the body of his/her beloved. It was filmed in Poland before the war with the participation of the Jewish community, and besides offering an aesthetic/dramatic feast, gives a highly illuminating picture of Jewish life in central Europe before the Holocaust. A must-see for anybody with an interest in the history of the cinema. And when you've seen this, see the German silent picture The Golem.

The Dybbuk is one of the great classics of the Jewish theater, and the landmark film, made in prewar Warsaw in 1937 is a haunting and beautifully rendered version. But don't buy this DVD. It's genuinely awful: no subtitles for the first 10 minutes; scratchy musical score, and poor images. Go the National Center for Jewish Film where you will find a restored version with new subtitles.

For everyone who has enjoyed Parker Tyler's "Classics of the Foreign Film," be aware--this title is completely misrepresented. It is entirely in Yiddish, contains no subtitles (no menu option), and is sonically garbled. The liner notes make a great fuss about PCM Audio formats and Lavry engineering--but so what, if you can't understand a line of dialog.

Anyone who watches this film for even five minutes can tell it is a masterpiece. Unfortunately, the desire for profits has, in the present case, superseded any sense of morality or responsibility. And what a monstrous injustice to the doomed inhabitants of Warsaw who participated in the filming of this great work of art!

I have no idea whether there are decent prints of "The Dybbuk" available. But better nothing than this! (And even the cheapest public domain issuers have the decency to supply subtitles--this is simply criminal. Shame on you, Stephen Zucker! Re-issuing Tauber and Jan Kiepura doesn't give you the right to rip off classic film lovers.)

UPDATE: After forwarding through the chapters, I find that only the first ten minutes of the film lack subtitles. After that, subtitles magically appear, although many of the sequences--especially the musical ones--still lack translations, and the subtitles are often impossible to read due to washout. In addition, the subtitling is cursory and many nuances of characterization are lost, although the plot is at least intelligible.

So, I would rate this a 5-star film with a 1- or 2-star presentation. I have a feeling this is the best we'll ever get (the film was long believed to be lost), and the audio is badly deteriorated to boot, but Bel Canto must be given credit for at least making the film available, albeit imperfectly.

... unless you are fluent in Yiddish.

The subtitles are horrible; they are from the original print. It is literally unwatchable (again, unless you're Yiddish is exceptionally strong, in which case - knock yourself out).

If you don't speak Yiddish, spend the $36.00 for the NFJC version.

And just to be clear, I do not work for the NFJC, I don't know anyone who does, and I have no vested interest in promoting their products.

I do, however, have a vested interest in preventing other people from getting ripped off by the company that is distributing this version. Amazon should pull the title.

Just two years before the Nazis would goosestep across Poland, Poland's Yiddish theatre produced perhaps its finest film classic: The Dybbyuk or Between Two Worlds (Yid. ''' ''''' ''''' '''''' ''''' '''''', Der dibuk oder tsvishn tsvey veltn).

Based on a 1914 play by S. Ansky, The Dybbuk is the musical story of a young bride possessed by a dybbuk --a malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person-- on the eve of her wedding. The Dybbuk is considered a seminal play in the history of Jewish theater, and played an important role in the development of Yiddish theatre and theatre in Israel. The play was based on years of research by S. Ansky, who travelled between Jewish shtetls in Russia and Ukraine, documenting folk beliefs and stories of the Hassidic Jews.

Unlike the theatrical version of The Dybbuk, the film version begins before the main characters -- Hannan and Leah -- are even born when their fathers make a sacred vow that their children will be married. As part of sealing this vow Hannan's father does a beautiful recitation from The Song of Songs. In this way, among others, music is very much a part of the telling of this haunting story.

Sadly, Leah's father never learns of the birth of Hannan because Hannan's father tragically dies at sea before even he can witness the birth of his own child.

Later in life, Hannan, now a brilliant talmudic scholar, falls in love with Leah, and even meets her father Sender. For his part, Sender is unaware that Hannan is actually his dead friend's son and therefore his daughter's marriage match.

Because Sender is a rich merchant he opposes a marriage between the two, as he prefers a rich suitor for his daughter. In desperation, Hannan decides to study the mystical arts of the Kabbalah, in the hopes of finding a way to win back Leah, whom he feels is his predestined bride. When Sender announces that he has found a suitable bridegroom for Leah, Hannan drops dead in a state of mystical ecstasy.

In a significant plot point, Hannan dies appealing to Satan and not God for devine assistance. In another significant plot development Sender discovers Hannan's true identity, albeit "too late."

On the day of her wedding, Leah goes to the graveyard, for the purpose of inviting the spirit of her dead mother to attend the wedding. She stops by the graves of a bride and groom who were murdered together before their marriage was consummated, and invites their spirits to the wedding. Finally she is drawn to the grave of Hannan, and leaves the graveyard appearing somehow "changed". Under the wedding canopy, Leah suddenly cries out to her intended: "You are not my bridegroom!" and rushes to the grave of the slaughtered bride and groom. A man's voice issues from her mouth, saying "I have returned to my predestined bride, and I shall not leave her".

She has been possessed by the Dybbuk. This possession is graphically demonstrated when Leah litterally dances with Death as part of her wedding festivities. Viewers aware of what would yet happen to the Polish Jewish community may find this scene particularly poignant and powerful.

Owing to her possession, Leah is brought to the home of a Hassidic sage who is to exorcise the dybbuk from her body. Upon inquiry Sender reveals The Dybbuk/Hannan's identity and the nature of the pact that Sender had made with Hannan's father.

A rabbinical court is convened and the room is prepared. The spirit of Hannan's father is invited to plead its case from within a chalk circle drawn upon the floor. The court declares that since it cannot be determined whether the children were actually concieved at the point of the pact, it's null and void. The rabbis attempt to appease the spirit and ask that Sender say Kaddish over the spirits of Hannan and his father. But the dybbuk does not acknowledge that it has been appeased. Leah is left within the chalk circle of protection while the others leave to prepare for her wedding. When she is alone, Leah renders her own verdict, leaves the security of that circle and dies, finally joining her Hannan.

Sadly the original play's author, Ansky died on November 8, 1920, and did not live to see the play professionally produced. As a tribute to Ansky, a production of the play was prepared by a troupe of actors from Vilna during the 30-day period of mourning after his death, and on December 9, 1920, the play opened at the Elyseum Theatre in Warsaw. It proved to be the Vilna Troupe's greatest success. A year after the Warsaw premiere the play was produced again by Maurice Schwartz in New York City's Yiddish Art Theatre and several months later the Hebrew translation by H. N. Bialik was staged in Moscow by the Habima Theatre, under the direction of Yevgeny Vakhtangov, a protege of both Stanislavski's and Meyerhold's and director of the experimental "Studio One" of the Moscow Art Theatre. At that time, Habima was the Hebrew language unit of the MAT. They later emigrated to Palestine and after Israeli independence, became the state's national theatre. Though the Vachtangov production was finally retired from the company's repertory, the play remains a symbol of Habima. At the same time, it is also a symbol of Yiddish theatre, though, in fact, it is hardly a typical representative of it. The first English production ran in 1925 and 1926 at the off-Broadway Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. This highly regarded production was translated and adapted by Henry G. Alsberg. In 1977, Joseph Chaikin, a central figure in American avant-garde theatre, directed a new translation of The Dybbuk by Mira Rafalowicz, a dramaturg, yiddishist and longtime collaborator of Chaikin's at The Public Theatre. The Royal Shakespeare Company staged Ms.Rafalowicz' translation, directed by Katie Mitchell, in 1992. The most recent UK production was a minimalist, close-focus staging directed by Eve Leigh at The King's Head Theatre in early 2008. Other modern versions include a two-person adaptation by Bruce Myers, a long-time member of Peter Brook's Paris-based company. Mr Myers, who had acted in Joseph Chaikin's production of The Dybbuk, won an Obie when he performed his "Dybbuk" in New York in 1979. The two-actor "Dybbuk" was produced three times by San Francisco's TJT (The Jewish Theatre San Francisco, formerly Traveling Jewish Theatre)and won several awards.

Besides stories, Ansky also collected traditional melodies, one of which he incorporated into this play. When Aaron Copland attended a performance of the play in New York in 1929, he was struck by this melody and made it the basis of his piano trio Vitebsk, named for the town where Ansky was born.

Of all versions of Ansky's play the most powerful of course is this film. It was directed by Micha' Waszy'ski in Warsaw, starring Lili Liliana as Leah, Leon Liebgold as Hannan (Channon, in the English-language subtitles), and Avrom Morevski as Rabbi Azrael ben Hodos. In real life Liliana and Liebgold were married and fortunately chose to leave Poland just after filming and significantly in time to avoid the Holocaust. Perhaps it's their real life marriage that gives their on screen love such power and depth.

What can't be denied though is the haunting quality of this movie, which included many actors who went on to die during the Holocaust along with the community depicted.

Like the flickering candles at Israel's Yad Vashem, these once real life characters have been reduced to mere optical images.