`Passion' Actors Sound Off
Jewish actor traded role in "Fiddler" to play a high priest in "The Passion."
Mincer, also the child of survivors,
monthly Shalom her growing uneasi-
agrees with Morgenstern. He said he
ness
with
the
production
as
it
pro-
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
doesn't believe Gibson is anti-Semitic,
gressed. She said she felt so strongly
and he hopes that the
Rome
about it that she refused to
controversy around the
allow the use of some of her
0 lek Mincer has not yet seen
Film could ultimately
music
in
the
soundtrack.
the finished version of The
have a positive effect.
"As
I
instructed
the
actors
Passion of the Christ.
"I realize that this
how to speak in Aramaic,"
But he has a take on the
film
has come out in a
she said, "I began to under-
controversial Mel Gibson film that is
crucial
moment - for
stand from the screenplay
somewhat different from that of other
the
relations
between
that not only would this be
Jewish observers: It's from the inside.
the
world's
religions,
a blood-soaked and violent
"I gave up the role of a Russian boy,
political powers and
film, but also that I found
Fiedka, in an Italian version of Fiddler
economies," Mincer
myself
facing
a
story
in
on the Roof to play the Jew Nicodemus
told JTA.
which
the
director,
Mel
in Mel Gibson's version of the
"Everyone seems to
Gibson, restored the
Gospels," said the lanky 46-year-old
be
taking rigid sides;
responsibility for the cruci-
actor with a wry smile.
the
desire not to
Olek
Mincer
plays
fixion of Christ to us Jews."
Mincer, who grew up in Poland and
offend others is no
Nicodemus
in
Mel
Morgenstern,
on
the
other
now lives in Rome, was one of several
Gibson's "The Passion of longer a characteristic
hand, has told interviewers
Jews in the cast and crew of The
of our times," he said.
the
Christ."
that
she
does
not
think
the
Passion, which is garnering record box-
"From this point of
film is anti-Semitic.
office receipts since it opened last
view,
I
think
the
controversy around
The daughter of Holocaust sur-
month in the United States. It is now
the
film
can
be
very
useful, as it
vivors, Morgenstern told the
opening across Europe.
underscores
problems
that are still
Associated Press that any political
Most notably, the Romanian-Jewish
unresolved
regarding
the
importance
message
the
film
offers
is
"about
the
actress Maia Morgenstern .plays Mary,
of the changes in the church vis-a-vis
responsibility
and
impact
political
and
and the Rome- based Sephardi singer
its roots and the Jewish people."
military leaders can have in manipu-
Evelina Meghnagi served as dialogue
He said he hoped the film would
lating
the
masses
and
interfering
in
coach for the Aramaic used in the film.
spark
a "serious and profound" dis-
people's conscience, particularly at a
Meghnagi, who was born in Libya,
cussion
of how the Gospels have been
moment of crisis as it was then."
recently described to the Rome Jewish
interpreted in the past as well as
today, and on the impact of the
Second Vatican Council on Catholic
doctrine and belief.
a total nightmare."
romantic comedy between two
In 1965, Imith the Nostra Aetate
The nightmare escalates when the
straight men," according to director
declaration,
the Second Vatican
cops
crash
the
bat
mitzvah
at
Todd Phillips, it's clearly an interfaith
Council
formally
rejected the accusa-
Feldman's
faux
Tudor
estate,
where
rOmance, a marriage of opposites.
tion
that
Jews
were
collectively respon-
the
reception
is
one
of
those
garish
When a corpse washes up on the
sible for the death of Jesus.
'70s affairs (Feldman's wearing pink
beach, the gung-ho Starsky pounces on
Mincer said that particularly in
polyester with his yarmulke).
the case; Hutch suggests they push the
Catholic countries such as Italy and
The Jewish Stiller, for his part, was
body back "and hope it floats to the
Poland, he hoped the showing of the
drawn to the film because as a kid he
next precinct." During a visit to "ghetto
chutzpandik
film would be accompanied by com-
idolized
the
streetwise,
snitch" Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg)- ,
ments by priests who would explain
Starsky
(Paul
Michael
Glaser).
"Every
Hutch requests a cocktail; Starsky wants
the current teaching of the church.
Jewish
kid's
hero,"
he
has
said.
"seltzer with a little lime." Hutch choos-
They should describe not only the
Growing up in New York, the dark-
es bland undercover disguises; Starsky
council's decision, he said, "but also
haired Stiller would pretend to be
hams it up as in-your-face "Morrie
Pope John Paul II's visit to the Rome
Starsky while some blond kid on the
Finkel, of Finkel's Fixtures," whose shag
synagogue in 1986, his visit to Israel
block was Hutch.
is fiercer than Farrah Fawcett's.
in 2000 and prayers at the Western
Starsky's
Jewfro
is
the
butt
of
a
joke
Eventually the partners narrow in
Wall;
the fact that diplomatic relations
in
the
movie
when
Hutch
sneers,
on cocaine wheeler-dealer Reese
perm?"
exist
between
the Holy See and Israel;
"Why
don't
you
go
get
another
Feldman (Vince Vaughn), who is
and that the pope has asked forgive-
The Jewish cop's reply bristles with
part-wannabe mobster, part-nouveau
ness from the Jews for the wrongs they
indignation: "For your information,
riche suburban Jew. His family's
have suffered at the hands of
upcoming simchah is more tsuris-pro- my hair is naturally curly." I . 1
Christians through the ages."
yoking than Starsky and Hutch:
Mincer was born in what is now
"Like I don't have enough problems,
Starsky Hutch is currently
Lvov,
Ukraine, and grew up in Warsaw.
he kvetches to an associate. "My
playing in area theaters.
Almost
all of his relatives were killed in
daughter's bat mitzvah is turning into
RUTH E. GRUBER
3)
the Holocaust. He got his acting start
in Warsaw's state-run Jewish Theater,
where he performed in Yiddish.
Married to the Italian-Jewish scholar
Laura Quercioli, he has lived in Rome
for 20 years and has toured Italy with
many performances rooted in East
European Jewish traditions. He long
was a member of the theater troupe
led by Moni Ovadia, Italy's leading
Jewish performer.
Last year, Mincer received a grant
from the European Association for
Jewish Culture for his play A Shed, the
Demon of Tishevets, based on a story
by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Mincer said that he had experi-
enced some qualms while performing
in The Passion of the Christ, but in
the end — like Morgenstern — he
concluded that "this was a- film, a
work of art; we are actors and we
serve art; this is our profession."
Still, he admitted, he didn't know
how he would have behaved if the
character he played would have had to
have acted violently against Jesus.
As it was, he said, the violent aspects
of the movie in a way had strength-
ened his own sense of Jewish identity.
They also provided him with new
insights into Christianity.
"The violence carried out on Jesus
by the Roman soldiers made me think
of the millions who were killed during
the Shoah, during the Russian
pogroms, in medieval bonfires," he
said. "Maybe because I myself am
Jewish, it made me think of Jesus as a
brother who suffers."
It was important to remember, he said,
that "Jesus, his mother, father and all the
apostles were Jews; the first
martyrs were Jews; the Romans did not
distinguish between Christians and Jews
who were not Christian."
He said that during the production of
The Passion., he and the other Jewish cast
and crew members became close.
Meghnagi in particular, he said, also tried
to influence the production by pointing
out certain errors in how Judaism or
Jewish practice was portrayed.
"I have to tell you that during the
long periods of waiting off the set, I
would sing songs in Yiddish with one
of the American actors," Mincer said.
"I felt a little clandestine in doing
so, but at the same time not alone; it
gave me a sense of belonging," he said.
"And watching the bravura and profes-
sionalism of Maia Morgenstern filled
me with pride for Yiddishkeit." fl
The Passion of the Christ is cur- .
rently playing in area theaters.
Z. V \T
3/19
2004
45