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Hava Nagila: The Movie Makes Big Tzimmes About Being Jewish

Comments (0) By Michael Atkinson Wednesday, Feb 27 2013

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Hava Nagila: The Movie
Directed by Roberta Grossman
Opens March 1, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

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Something like the doc equivalent of a Yiddish-humor bathroom book, vet TV-doc producer Roberta Grossman's tirelessly glib little movie tracks the cultural trajectory of the eponymous song "from Ukraine to YouTube," and makes a big tzimmes along the way about "being Jewish," as if that required practice. The historical roots of the song in the nigunim of Eastern European shtetls are traced within the first 15 minutes; thereafter, Grossman relishes doodling on the American diaspora and the growth of affluent Jewish culture after World War II, when the ubiquitous party ditty got covered by everyone from Harry Belafonte (interviewed) to Bob Dylan (not), and grotesque bar mitzvah fetes were the defiant answer to memories of the Holocaust. Patronizing from toe to chin, the film opts continually for self-congratulation and cheesy aphorism, and could've-should've been comfortable slotted into a half hour of airtime on TJC (channel 528 on Time Warner Cable).

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