Israel, Why

Claude Lanzmann’s (Shoah) first feature from 1972 is a riveting panorama of Israel between the Six Day and Yom Kippur Wars. Lanzmann, who travels through the country interviewing Israelis from all walks of life, is not interested in the nationalistic euphoria that swept the country in those days; his focus is on the real people who lived here: a kibbutznik, a Holocaust survivor, a religious professor from Jerusalem, a new immigrant from Soviet Russia, a father who lost his son in the war, a Tunisian longshoreman from Ashdod, etc. Among the more recognized faces are archeologist and politician, Yigael Yadin and Charlie Biton, head of the Black Panthers movement.