JEWISH WORLD

JEWISH WORLD • NOVEMBER 18-24, 2022 23 Writing teachers often speak of creating something universal by highlighting the specific. For many North American Jews, how- ever, the details in “The Fabel- mans” will jump out. Beyond not- ing theirs is the only “dark” house on Christmas, aside from Mitzi referring to herself as “ mamelah ” or calling her children “dahlink” in a half-kidding way — or by ig- noring her mother-in-law’s “this is brisket?” chides — there’s the un- spoken, mostly benign us-against- them defense a Jewish family takes on in a non-Jewish environment. “Let’s leave the family mishegoss at home” the kids decide as they prep for a new day among anti-Se- mitic bullies. There’s also the one proudly Christian girl at school who feels she can save Sam’s soul through necking, which the hormonal teen is not above leaning into. Her bed- room wall is plastered with pic- tures of the pop music and film stars of the day alongside images of Jesus. (There’s also the young Bob Dylan, but back then very few knew the earnest folkie was actu- ally named Zimmerman.) There aren’t any bar mitzvah scenes (though certainly some opening of Hanukkah gifts), but Ju- daism saturates this movie. I’d need to consult Lenny Bruce’s legendary Jewish/Goyish routine, but Mitzi setting out dinner on paper plates on a giant paper tablecloth so she can wrap it all up in a ball and have a clean dining room in 15 seconds is just using some sechel (common sense). The official excuse is that she is a pianist, and needs to watch after her fingers. Mitzi’s gift at music is an only-hinted-at tragedy in the story, one of her roads-not-taken. She gave up playing for family — a family she adores, including her husband, whom she recognizes is unbearably kind. She confesses that when she is at times cruel to him “he buys me a dress.” After a beat, “from Saks,” she adds, reminding us, again, that details are everything. T his may sound like an enor- mous therapy session for Spielberg, and while that no doubt is part of it, for us in the audience it’s also a tremendous amount of fun. Much of the movie is racing around, making 8mm adventure films (or collecting the Arizona scorpions to trade in for cash to buy the film). There’s also plen- ty that shows the tactile way in which movies were once made. Kids with their iPhones will be amazed to see the razor blades and glue. There’s plenty of laughs, because that’s part of growing up, even with (or maybe especially with) all the tears. Judd Hirsch appears in a key scene as Yiddish sage, Great Uncle Boris, to lay out some hard truths about art and sacrifice, and while there’s nothing in his speech you haven’t heard a hundred times before, there is a declarative sig- nificance in hearing it told in this setting. Spielberg’s Version of t he Gospel of Art. (Hirsch, Jean- nie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, and, oddly, David Lynch, are some of the voices who come in during clutch sequences.) I’ve seen “The Fabelmans” twice now and the thing I can’t get over is just how cleverly it all snaps into place. What’s also impressive is what it doesn’t do. There’s no corny foreshadowing of future Spielberg tropes — noth- ing about a shark at the beach, or interplanetary lights in the sky, or the crack of a whip. There is, how- ever, an abundant respect for the power of images. It took Spielberg 50 years to make this movie. He’s instinctive- ly known where to put his camera and how to and coax the best per- formances from his actors.. It turns out one of the best stories he had to tell was by shooting what was in the mirror. Jordan Hoffman is an American freelance film critic and former ac- tor, director and producer. Spielberg instinctively knew where to put his camera and how to coax the best performances from his actors in “The Fabelmans.” Details in “The Fabelmans” will jump out to Jews. One is the unspoken defense a Jewish family takes on in a non-Jewish environment. Spielberg continued from page 13