Well-researched and breezily told, “Hava Nagila (The Movie)” is nonetheless a rather conventional documentary with a head-spinning number of talking-head academics and historians exploring the roots of the Hebrew folk song that is a staple of Jewish wedding ceremonies and bar mitzvahs.
So what was it doing in the prestigious opening night slot of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival last January, how did it find its way onto the programs of some 75 (and counting) other Jewish film festivals and is now among the first from the Atlanta fest to get a commercial release here?
It’s about the song’s remarkable back story, staying power and stunning international reach — and how thoroughly director Roberta Grossman’s jaunty docu gets to the bottom of all of it.
In the film’s first half, Grossman traces the melody to a Ukrainian region that was once home to 5 million Jews and where the song was a wordless Hasidic prayer. The film also visits Jerusalem, where, in the early 20th century, lyrics were added. Though who wrote them is fiercely disputed by the proud descendants of two songwriters, the lyrics were meant to make a positive statement about Jewish life.
The beginning of the song translates: “Hava nagila, hava nagila” (“Let us rejoice, let us rejoice”)/ “Hava nagila ve-nismeha” (“Let us rejoice and be glad”)/ “Hava neranena, hava neranena” (“Let us sing, let us sing”).
Though the history lesson is compelling, “Hava Nagila (The Movie)” finds its groove in its second half, when Grossman interviews some of the interpreters who helped make the song an international sensation: Harry Belafonte, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell. They are, respectively, African-American and Italian-American artists and a country singer who recorded the tune as instrumental for the B-side of his theme song from “True Grit.”
The tune has been recorded by artists as diverse as surf guitar master Dick Dale, Cuban-born salsa singer Celia Cruz and even Bob Dylan, who comically introduces it in a tape unearthed in the film as “a foreign song I learned in Utah.”
Actress Rusty Schwimmer’s wry narration sets the perfect tone for the 73-minute film that will plant “Hava Nagila” in the minds for weeks — maybe months — of its viewers.
MOVIE REVIEW
“Hava Nagila (The Movie)”
Grade: B
Directed by Roberta Grossman.
Not rated. At Lefont Sandy Springs and Plaza Theatre. 1 hour, 13 minutes.
Bottom line: A wry look at a song that’s as Jewish (and yet as widely appealing) as rye bread.
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