By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO — Is there another city in the world that draws as much controversy as Jerusalem?
I-max film director Daniel Ferguson spent five years making Jerusalem and “nothing came easily.” The first challenge was to get their mixed crew of Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians to work through their distrust of one another so that they could work toward a common goal.
Then came the question of cramming five thousand years into 45 minutes. Conquered over forty times, Jerusalem is many cities, each built on the ruins of another. This makes it an archaeologist’s dream because wherever you dig, you discover. It was a herculean task, but Ferguson told a preview audience at the Reuben Fleet Science Center’s I-max Theatre that the scope and power of Jerusalem made it very “i-maxian.”
“We ate the mountain bite by bite. It took three years to get into the Dome of the Rock, having tea with the right people,” he said.
The panoramic views of places like Masada and the Temple Mount are breathtaking. Then we dive into intimate interiors of archaeological digs cutting deep underground. The aerial views were especially hard to get as Jerusalem is a strict no-fly zone. But Ferguson felt that this was essential to show the proximity of the three religious sites: the Kotel, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But the helicopter pilot lost his job for doing so.
Throughout the film, three young women narrate: a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian, each presenting “their” Jerusalem. Through their eyes, we experience the shuk (market) at the Damascus Gate, praying at the Kotel (Western Wall) and marching in an Easter parade with heavy wooden crosses and beating drums.
Throughout the distinct cultural rituals, it’s when we sit down to a family meal for Eid, Easter or Ne’ilah that Jerusalem presents our common humanity across religious boundaries.
For all of their proximity, the people of the four quarters of Jerusalem’s Old City don’t really communicate with or know that much about each other. As one narrator put it, “I hope one day we can have the courage to meet the people who are living right next to us. …Not yet.”
If you’ve never been to Jerusalem before, seeing this film may make you think that you have. And even if you have, you haven’t seen it like this.
Jerusalem opens Friday, Nov 20th, 2015 at the Reuben H Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park.
*
Tauber is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com