When writing about movies, Seraphic Secret usually focuses on Hollywood.
But this silent film, "Banim Bonim" Land of Promise, is a documentary from 1924 that is absolutely fascinating. The second reel is missing, but it's still 41 minutes long.
Take a look, and then some comments.
As with most documentaries, the film was carefully constructed to look like reality. In fact, all the scenes were carefully arranged, and though the "cast members" were not professional actors their entrances, exits and all their gestures--waving hats, pointing, engaging in conversation--were rehearsed and then shot. The lighting is flat and artless. No reflectors were used to soften the harsh sunlight.
The subjects in the film are charmingly awkward, frequently glancing into the camera. They stiffly enter frame, try and hit their marks, and then self-consciously exit the scene. We're a long way from the media savvy frights of "The Real Wives of Orange County."
Make no mistake about it, this is a propaganda film and the imagery (absent a driving narrative) has been influenced by Soviet films of the era which idealized workers and the land. But this is propaganda with Judaism at its core with intertitles such as: Rebuild the land of your Fathers for the sake of your children.
This film was made during the Third Aliyah:
The Third Aliyah, a continuation of the Second Aliyah (which was interrupted by World War I), was triggered by the October Revolution in Russia, the ensuing pogroms there and in Poland and Hungary, the British conquest of Palestine and the Balfour Declaration. Most members of the Third Aliyah were young halutzim (pioneers) from Eastern Europe.
Although the British Mandatory regime imposed aliyah quotas, the yishuv numbered 90,000 by the end of this period. The new immigrants built roads and towns, and projects such as the draining of marshes in the Jezreel Valley and the Hefer Plain were undertaken. The General Federation of Labor (Histadrut) was established, representative institutions for the yishuv were founded (the Elected Assembly and the National Council), and the Haganah (the clandestine Jewish defense organization) was formed. Agricultural settlement expanded, and the first industrial enterprises were established.
Approximately 40,000 Jews arrived in Palestine during the Third Aliyah; relatively few returned to their countries of origin.
Source: Jewish Virtual Library.
H/T Elder of Ziyon
