God's House

"Besa: The Promise" (2012 release; 90 min.) retells the real life events of a slice of WWII history that not nearly enough people know about (and that includes me, until I saw this documentary recently): families in Albania taking in Jewish refugees, at the risk of their own families. Before you say, "so what, many families across Europe did so too", you need to know that Albania is primarily a Muslim country. Comments someone at one point: "If 10 Albanians provide refuge, 7 out of them are Muslim and the other 3 are either Catholic or Orthodox". As the documentary opens, we get to know Norman Gershman, an elder Jewish American who comes across this story and decides that this is what he needs to do with his life. He goes to Albania and starts interviewing people, documenting their stories for history's sake. We also get to know one particular Albanian Muslim family, who sheltered a Jewish family during WWII. As it happens, now all these years later, the Albanian family still holds 3 precious books (the Torah, we learn later) and wants to return the books to the Jewish family they helped 60 years earlier. Will the two families reconnect? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first and foremost, this documentary confirms once again that if you have a compelling story to tell, facts always trump fiction, reason why I love to watch documentaries. Second, there seems to be an on-going debate as to what exactly the meaning of "Besa" really is. Watching this documentary, it appears to have two (perhaps related?) meanings: (i) it is in Albania's cultural tradition to provide help to a stranger, no matter who, and (ii) if you have made a promise (in this case: return the books to the Jewish family), you must fulfill the promise, no matter how difficult or how long it takes. Third, it would be misleading to generalize what happened in Albania to other Muslim-dominated countries, as it appears that this was a uniquely Albanian situation (that does not mean that there aren't good people in other Muslim countries, of course). Last but certainly not least, the music score is from none other than Philip Glass, yes THE Philip Glass. I don't know whether the score is original or if it is culled from existing Glass works, but regardless, it plays beautifully and prominently almost non-stop the entire movie.

"Besa: The Promise" is a surprising and moving documentary that should be required viewing in all high schools and even junior high schools, as it teaches important life lessons to young and old alike, and it documents a forgotten but important "detail" from WWII. I saw this documentary recently at the 2014 Jewish & Israeli Film Festival here in Cincinnati, and the screening I saw this at was sold-out, I am happy to say. Wish this documentary could get a broader audience. "Besa: The Promise" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

During World War II, thousands of Jews in Europe found an ally that many would not expect; Albanian Muslims. In Albania, besa represents the concept of helping someone that knocks on your door and a high treatment of guests and occurs on a large scale cultural level. In WWII, that came to include many Jews who were fleeing the Nazis, and were aided by the king of Albania opening the country to Jews from throughout Europe with no questions asked. Many took shelter with Albanian families that risked everything for strangers.

The film initially follows a Jewish-American photographer who has been trying to document the remaining people in Albania that helped Jews at great risk, both in the context of remembering their aid to Jews in WWII, and in recognition of these pure acts of humanitarian goodwill that Muslims carried out at great risk at a time when the religion faces vilification. This part may be the one weakest part, as it follows just enough of an introduction that I'd rather keep to the focus than redirect into talk of New York and the like, and get to the heart of the matter.

Once the film transitions to Albania, it really becomes an amazing set of stories, as it features interviews both with those in Albania that helped Jews, and the Jews that were helped discussing the great lengths that people went to to help them. It's incredibly powerful to see how strong the emotions are on both sides of this, as to some extent it becomes evident that with the time involved, these people began to view these strangers they were with as close friends, or even family, because of the strong bonds that formed. It really is a testament to humanity.

The main focus finally becomes the concept of besa, of a promise that is made, and the way that Albanians treat guests. In particular, the son of a man that sheltered a family carries his father's responsibility to return some books the family had to leave behind when they fled Albania and never returned for them. There's a very powerful optimism to it, and an amazing sense of doing what is right, no matter the difficulties involved.

The film is very well put together and certainly ends on a powerful last several minutes. I do hope that some other footage apparently taken of other people, beyond this main focus, becomes available to further flesh out the stories, but I very much like that the film itself merely frames the stories, for the most part it doesn't try to provide any of the context, and leaves that to the people that experienced this, or were told about it from parents.

There have been a great many stories told about people's actions during WWII, and this is one set of stories whose time is long overdue, but they've been told beautifully and powerfully.