Documentary, 2007
Director: Jean-Michel Vecchiet
France/ English, French, Hebrew w subtitles
80 minutes
This exceedingly well done documentary includes both meticulously gathered archival footage and moving interviews of survivors to tell the story of the Exodus 47.
In July 1947, 4,500 Jewish passengers boarded the steamer Exodus 47 in France headed for Palestine. Their only wish was to leave Europe (understandably given recent circumstances) and start life anew in the holy land. Unfortunately, they were breaking immigration laws to do it.
Arab nations pressured the British to stop the ship and reroute it to France where they were held for days, their overpacked haven now a suffocating prison filled with illness and misery. The experience of the passengers, what they went through, and how it ended helped to influence the mood of the world towards the creation of an Israeli state mere months later.
It is a very well crafted documentary with interesting subject matter. Just one warning for filmmakers in future - fancy fonts on subtitles - not such a good idea. With the small, curving, white italicized font on the subtitles through the first half of the movie it was such a struggle to read (especially over black and white footage) that I was depending in part on my college French classes and the interviewees who actually spoke English to make up the difference and of course that still wasn't enough to catch everything. The average viewer may not appreciate the strain pretty early on and just give up. The actual wording of the narration was just a tad grandiose as well. Somewhat more objective is better; let the story tell itself.
Lucy Cruell