CHRISTOPHER WOOD: OFF DAY 6 â€" ASHKENAZ >>>

OK everyone, gather ‘round for today’s history lesson: In Biblical times, Noah (think John Huston in The Bible if that helps) begat Japhet who begat Gomer who begat Ashkenaz. Fast forward to the last century, and "Ashkenaz" became the term assigned to Jews living in the Rhineland, or more generally in Western Europe. Then Hitler got his own begetting on with World War II, which culminated in the founding of Israel.

Which brings us to 2007 with Ashkenaz, writer-director Rachel Leah Jones’s look at the Jewish state’s current social complexities. Constructed from impromptu interviews with residents of Tel Aviv, the film examines the paradoxes of Ashkenazi, or “Arab Jew,” identity. Between this privileged “white” bourgeoisie minority and its “black” counterpart, the Mizrahi, simmers an ever-present tension.

The Ashkenazi as a construct is a slippery one and hard to grasp, as evidenced by testimonials which often contradict one another. Persecuted or persecuting, this self-exiled group suppresses its own heritage while fearing and alienating other groups. Jones, a Jew herself and Israeli citizen, explains the situation as “European Jews having internalized anti-Semitic ideas…and externalizing that onto non-European Jews and onto Palestinians.”

Even with this helpful summary, it might benefit viewers to reacquaint themselves with Jewry prior to watching Ashkenaz. Produced for Israeli television, the film understandably glosses over practices such as the kibbutz and the Yiddish tradition, a fact which could confuse American audiences. Also, the work lacks a strong emotional core. Jones approaches this deep-rooted social situation from mainly an intellectual standpoint. Her detached style doesn’t provide us a central character with whom to empathize, someone who epitomizes all the bewildering contradictions of the Ashkenazi experience.

Arriving on the heels of a presidential election which will force America to reexamine its own identity, the film couldn’t be timelier. Ashkenaz, though an assault on the brain, fails to go for the gut.

LINK: Olympia Film Festival schedule

LINK: Weekly Volcano cover story on the festival