Jerusalem for Cowards
a documentary by Dalia Castel and Orit Nahmias
When we were young and lived in Jerusalem, people tried to intimidate us. They said that in 20-30 years only orthodox Jews and Arabs will remain in the city. They counted on us to save the city, fight for its secular, modern character. They thought we would transform it into the cosmopolitan city it was meant to be. It didn't work. Instead, the intimidation became a self-fulfilling prophecy. We were so scared that there wouldn't be a place for us in the city that we left. We became a whole generation of young, secular Jerusalemites who left the city. A generation for whom nothing is sacred, who is not willing to fight for anything. A generation of cowards.
The filmmakers Dalia Castel and Orit Nahmias are part of the about 25,000 Israelis who have settled down in Berlin during the last years. Nevertheless, they never really got away from Jerusalem, the city of their childhood. For this film, they return there. As strangers. During one week, every day they throw a different glance at this place that is mythical and earthly in the same time. They join guided tours for travel groups, talk to street vendors and go to the stadium of the infamously famous football club Beitar Jerusalem, before turning to their own Jerusalem: their democratic school that has become a parking lot, their family, their friends, and to the house of Dalia's mother that is now home to a yeshiva, an orthodox religious school. A lot of people abandon their hometown when they are young adults, but what happens if your hometown abandons you?