No Homeland

95 Minutes, 1956
Genre:
Feature

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Directed by: Nuri Habib
Cast: Shoshana Damari, Shaike Ophir, Seadia Damari, Amos Arikha
Production:Nuri Habib, Leo Fuld
Production Company:Habib Films
Photographer: Nuri Habib
Original Music: Moshe Wilensky
Language: Hebrew
| Subtitles not available

Director Nubi Habib’s film is still remembered for three main reasons: it is the first Israeli film to have been shot in technicolour, not to mention the first one to feature Mizrahi protagonists, specifically Yemeni Jews. Last but not least, it is a chance for viewers to watch the late grande dame of Israeli folk, Shoshana Damari, showcase her singing and acting skills on camera.
The story is set in 1926, Yemen. Naama, a popular nightclub singer, learns of her Jewish roots whilst around her, a series of violent Antisemitic attacks, orchestrated by the local Arab population, continues. Following an encounter with a shepherd and a Jewish boy whose parents were murdered, she joins a small group of Jews who are planning to move to the Holy Land (then-British Mandatory Palestine).
Their journey is long, arduous, and treacherous but at the end, the group finally reach their coveted destination, as Shoshana Damari bursts into song against the backdrop of Israeli vistas shot in technicolour: “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11, music by Moshe Wilensky).

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