Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

into the Irgun). But there is another attribute ofcoding which I have yet to discuss in Ute
film: the use ofdiegetic music. When the Haganah raise the Israeli flag on the Cypriot
ship, renamed the "Exodus," in defiance to the Briti5b blockade ofPalestine, and carrying
several thousand Jewish refugees, the Jews break out into singing the ..Hatikva." which
will become, historically, the lsraeli nationalmthem. That knowledge. as well as an
understanding that "hailia" means "bop:" will have resDrwlCe only for those who are
familiar with Judaism enough to pick up on it.
The coding in a film like The Garden ofFinzi-Conrinis will also have a
substantially low degree, in pan due to the ethnicity ofthe director: De Sica. as a non·
Jew. would not necessarily be sensitive to the cultural icons which are operative within
Jewish culture. The Jewish customs which are shown in the film. going to synagogue and
celebrating Passover. are textually based. but De Sica has not endowed them with any
Jewishness. However. this docs not deny any ofthe film's polentiaJ for Jewishness: lyla.
one of my informants at the festival. noted the following:
I didn't go there: (to see The Garden of/he Fi,d-Conlinis) ex- because I
wanted to see a Jewish film. I went there because I wanted to see a--- you
know. a movie. And I didn't even know that there was a Holocaust element
in it. But I thought it \l,as a fabulous film. Ifyou would define that as a
Jewish film. yes. The Garden ofthe Fin=i-Continis was wonderful (lyla.
personal interview. 9702).
Occasionally. as lyla demonstrates. films which have a lower degree ofJewishness in
them hit the right Jewish chord by taking the audience by surprise. Ifone is not expecting
Jewishness in a film. and then discovers a small amount ofit that cinematic experience:
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