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Sela Warch left, dramatizes the courage of Marie-Rose Gineste, who delivered under-
ground pamphlets on her bicycle and helped to rescue Jews from Nazi persecution.
Anne Jackson also stars.

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Elizabeth Perkins stars as a Polish-Catholic housekeeper who takes a young Jewish
boy ((Fraser McGregor) under her wing.

Women
OF VALOR

Two stories of courage
premiere on Showtime this Sunday.

MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News

10/3

1997

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s the "Woman on a
Bicycle," Marie-Rose
Gineste found herself ped-
aling the power of faith and
courage to Jews trying to navigate
Nazi terror in Montauban, France, of
1941.
Assisting the Resistance movement,
at first by delivering underground
pamphlets from town to town on her
bicycle, and then in helping to hide 19
Jews from Hitler's henChmen, Gineste, a
non-Jew who had never befriended any
Jews prior to her involvement in the
Resistance, opened her heart and mind
to the strangers around her.
The mindless massacres that were the
Holocaust hastened her own need to
take a stand in an environment that
stands out as one of the most heinous
in history.
Gineste's compelling story as a mes-
senger of mercy in Montauban is one of
two told in Showtime's "Rescuers:
Stories of Courage — Two Women,"
premiering 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5.
This is the first film in the
"Rescuers" project of three films from
executive producers Barbara Streisand
and Cis Corman. Based on the book
Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in
the Holocaust by Gay Block and Malka
Drucker, "Rescuers: Stories of Courage"
is comprised of true stories involving
the courageous efforts of non Jews who
risked their lives to rescue the victims of
genocide.
•
This first film pairs "Woman on a
Bicycle," starring Sela Ward as Gineste,
with "Mamusha," played by Elizabeth
Perkins. "Mamusha" is the story of a
Polish-Catholic housekeeper, Gertruda
Bablinska, who takes charge of a young
Jewish boy whose mother has died; they
eventually wend their way to Palestine
after the war.
Both scripts, "Mamusha" by Susan
Nanus and "Woman on a Bicycle" by.
Ernest Kinoy," were directed by Peter
Bogdanovich.
Sela Ward, former star of "Sisters,"
feels a kinship for her Holocaust hero-
ine who resists looking the other way in
time of danger. A non-Jew herself, Ward
has long fought on behalf of Jewish
causes and concerns.
Gineste's gentility and drive appealed
to her. "This woman that I played
risked her life without thought," she
says, operating out of a sense of "her
highest emotions of love, tolerance, car-
ing."

Viewers should take care, cautions
Ward, that such tales of tolerance and
heroism not be forgotten. Such "stories
are very important in light of that gen- 40
eration (of survivors) dying out."
Gineste, who has been honored by
Yad Vashem, is a living symbol to one
woman's victory over madness. In her
80s, she still lives in Montauban, "still
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riding her bicycle."
Being a big wheel in the Resistance
was never a consideration for Gineste,
who was just doing what she felt was
right. Learning about her story as well -101
as those of other Righteous Gentiles,
Ward noticed that "the one common
thread is that these people never once
questioned whether they should or
shouldn't do this."
It's part of their moral fiber. "It was
emphatically the right thing, the highest
choice they could possibly make and,
regardless of the danger involved, [they].,A
never questioned it once, which really
made me pause."
Married to a Jew, Ward has never
paused in her private life to get
involved. The Emmy Award-winning
star, whose feature film credits include
The Fugitive, doesn't take flight when
met with a challenge.
She took part in a cable TV special
earlier this year involving the impor-
tance of Jewish holidays and has worked"
with Rabbi David Baron, a prominent
religious leader and communal activist
in Los Angeles, translating the tenets of
the Talmud through action for Jew and
non-Jew alike.
It's all part of her concern, she says,
that people ward off the seductive pow-
ers of insouciance."As a human being,
[activity] speaks to me regardless of 4-0
whether it's a Jewish issue or not."
Ward, who did not speak to Gineste
prior to the film shoot, hopes to one
day. In the meantime, she is grateful to
star in a film that speaks to the human
condition, hoping that "Rescuers:
Stories of Courage" will demonstrate
that such profiles in courage are of
catholic appeal. ❑

‘"

"Rescuers Stones of Courage

rNb‘i- swtinae.
es are Oct. 11,
20 and 28 Check your local list-

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Michael Elkin is entertainment editor
of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.

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