Do you know who Roman Vishniac is? I didn't either but in a haunting documentary film by Laura Bialis, the story of the Jewish photographer who documented pre-war and Nazi Europe is captured in a way that pushes us to finally revisit the history of the past, in order to never make the same mistakes again.
Unfortunately, we all have short memories. We forget quickly what happened to us two or three years ago (things as big as a worldwide pandemic which shut down our world) let alone those events of the past century.
Our schooling also has a lot to do with our lack of using past events to predict the future. In Italy, for example, I learned mostly Italian history, or at least from the Italian POV. In the US, I learned American history. There were hints of world events, like the Holocaust, but it was never more than a passing chapter.
So, we are bound as a world to keep repeating what happened in the past. Make the same mistakes, over and over and over again, like a demonic prophecy handed down throughout the generations. Add to that an old Italian saying, which roughly translates as “those who are jailed become jailers,” and it helps to explains all that is wrong with the world right now.
Laura Bialis is a filmmaker who has focused most of her career on portraying the Jewish experience, both as it weaved and crossed nations for a better life, as well as for safety, but also within the borders of Israel. In Vishniac, she follows the young Russian-born photojournalist on his travels in the mid-1930’s, capturing Eastern European shtetls and Weimar-era Berlin — all the while bearing witness to the Nazi rise to power. After the war, his documentation continued with photographs of Berlin in ruins and Jewish children in Displaced Persons camps. And then, when he moved with his family to America, Vishniac’s contributions in the field of microscopic photography became a staple in the 1960s and 1970s in classrooms across the United States. His pioneering microscopy, which was also featured in the most prestigious publication of its time, Life magazine, transformed the nature of science photography. I urge you to read up more about him. And watch this film.
Because Vishniac is a film that needs to be savored and enjoyed. While the underlying theme, of war, displacement and hatred due to simple differences, may be hard to swallow, its overall style is beautiful to behold. Following along with the photographer’s daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn, the viewer gets a glimpse at his visionary POV, but also the legacy that he’s left us, gifted us, of “a lost world that is quickly fading from our grasp,” as the film’s synopsis states.
What I loved most about the film is how it perfectly tells the story of a man who made a life out of showcasing his people, and their culture. And how Bialis quietly nudges us to look him up, to gather up more information, to view more of his stunning photography and simply to find out more about the world around us — through her film.
Vishniac is produced by Laura Bialis & Roberta Grossman with Executive Producer Nancy Spielberg.
The film will open in NYC at The Quad, on January 19th and in LA at Laemmle Royal and Town Center on February 2nd.