Arts Entertainment

Reel Jewish

Three films look at life through a Jewish lens.

founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement.
Along the way, says Davis, "I realized that the
questions I was asking were really my own ques-
tions.
"Sometime about halfway through the film I
realized that this is really about me."
He laughs, then continues: "Me as the
Everyman. I decided to ask what I think every-
one else who is searching wants to know."

Spiritual Journey

`Raising The Sparks'

Former Detroiter goes
on a spiritual search.

AUDREY BECKER
Special to the Jewish News

A

t the beginning of Raising the Sparks, film-
maker Chuck Davis shows us home-movie
footage of his son's bris.
It is a perfect introduction to the central conflict
explored in this thoughtful documentary, subtitled
"A Personal Search for a Spiritual Home in Judaism."
The film will be screened for the public
Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the West Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center. It is a prelude to the fourth
annual Lenore M. Marwil Jewish Film Festival, run-
ning April 28-May 5 at the UA Commerce 14, the
Birmingham 8 and the Michigan Theater in Ann
Arbor.

Asking The Questions

In the film, Davis' narration is heard clearly
over the cries of his infant son. He wonders
about the importance of the seemingly
painful ritual of circumcision, and questions
why he has chosen to perpetuate the
covenant at all.
Not only is he unsure about his own faith,
but his wife isn't even Jewish.
The film is a reflective, honest and inti-
mate look at Davis' own questions about the
nature of Judaism and its place in his life,
especially in terms of his interfaith marriage.
But the project didn't begin as an inner
exploration.
Initially, Davis planned to make a film
about Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the

2/8
2002

62

For 20 years, Davis had followed the teachings
of Buddhism, teachings which are not necessari-
ly in conflict with those of Judaism.
"Both of the [religions] emphasize oneness,"
Davis explains. "If you go to the kabbalistic
teaching, it really is about the nothingness or the one-
ness. It really is similar to the Buddhist teachings."
However, as part of his spiritual journey, Davis rec-
ognized there was a degree to which Buddhism failed
to satisfy his Jewish soul.
"Buddhism doesn't serve us because it doesn't
acknowledge our need for relationships, for culture,
for [God as an] intermediary," says Davis.
"Buddhism lacks that heart that Judaism has, and, of
course, Judaism appeals to me because I'm Jewish."
"All the Hebrew, it's so old that it resonates, as
[Reb] Zalman says, in our reptilian
brain. Buddhism is a bit too intel-
Above: A
lectual to do that."
scene from
Yet Raising the Sparks is itself an
"Raising the
intellectual quest. Throughout the
Sparks." documentary, Davis visits with dif-
ferent rabbis — including
Below:
rabbi/authors Michael Lerner and
The train
Marcia Prager — who thoughtfully
tracks at
respond to his questions about
Solibor.
Judaism and spirituality.

Physician/Filmmaker

Davis, who now lives in Colorado with his wife and
children, grew up in the Detroit area. (He boasts that,
until recently when he began rooting for Colorado
teams, he was a Detroit Tigers fan.) He attended and
celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth El. He later
went to the University of Michigan, which he left,to
join the Peace Corps.
Davis balances his successful career as a documentary
filmmaker with his other professional identity: he is a
practicing physician. When he chose to attend film
school at USC, he was 40. By then, he had already
made several films, including an award-winning docu-
mentary completed while he was living in Ann Arbor.
Many of Davis' films have been aired on public televi-
sion. His most recent film, Kosher Valley, which was
screened at last year's Jewish Film Festival, is a documen-
tary about a rabbi who helps form a kosher co-op with
Mormons and Hispanics in order to save small ranchers.
Davis is currently working on a follow-up documen-
tary to Raising the Sparks, and is awaiting word on a
grant proposal for a film tentatively titled The Returned,
about secular parents of observant Orthodox children.
"It's about whether pluralism and fundamentalism
can get along in the same family," explains the film- •
maker, who seems drawn to stories of spiritual under-
standing and reconciliation. "I want to explore the
prejudice on both sides." El

There will be a screening of Raising the Sparks 7:30
p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. After the film, Dr.
Chuck Davis and Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg of
Congregation Shir Tikvah will lead a conversation
about spirituality in the 21st century. Admission is
$7 per person. Advance tickets are available by call-
ing the JCC Jewish Life and Learning Department,
(248) 432-4477.

'Sobibor'

Claude Lanzmann's sequel
to the epic "Shoah" suffers
in the translation.

AUDREY BECKER
Special to the Jewish News

obibor, October 14, 1943, 4 PM. is the title of
a new documentary by Claude Lanzmann,
the acclaimed director of 1985's monumental
documentary telling of the Holocaust, Shoah.
At the precise historical moment indicated by the