Movie review, 'The
Optimists'
By Patrick Z. McGavin
See
where this movie is playing.
Any
suspicion that Holocaust documentaries have been thoroughly
exhausted is contradicted by the miraculous, sharp movie "The
Optimists."
Made by the Israel-born documentarian Jacky Comforty and
his wife, Chicago native Lisa Comforty, the movie recounts a
remarkable story not widely known: the intervention of
Bulgaria's Christian and Muslim communities to secure the
safety of 50,000 Bulgarian Jews who had been earmarked for
extermination in Nazi death camps.
Comforty draws on haunting, evocative photographs, newsreel
footage, contemporary interviews and family history in
granting this astonishing story weight and resonance. The
movie's title references the name of a Bulgarian jazz band
Comforty's grandfather played in.
3 stars (out of 4)
"The Optimists"
In German, Bulgarian and Hebrew; English subtitled.
Running time: 1:24. No MPAA rating (no objectionable
material).
