Mamadrama: The Jewish Mother in Cinema Directed by Monique Schwarz

Mamadrama: The Jewish Mother in Cinema

Australia, 2001, 73 minutes, color
Written & Directed by Monique Schwarz

The excellent 2001 documentary Mamadrama: The Jewish Mother in Cinema by Monique Schwarz, covers the Jewish mother's image in approximately the first 100 years of movie-making. It includes discussion of such Yiddish classics as the 1937 Where is My Child?, where Celia Adler portrays a mother pining for the son she placed in an orphanage; Yiddish-adjacent films such as The Jazz Singer and adaptations of great Jewish novels like Portnoy's Complaint. 

• Mamadrama combines film clips, cultural commentary, interviews with Hollywood and Israeli filmmakers and footage from Schwarz's earlier films in an exploration of the image of the Jewish mother in film beginning with early silent and Yiddish films up through contemporary movies. Hollywood directors Paul Mazursky, Paul Bogart, Larry Peerce and actress Lainie Kazan reflect on their Jewish mothers. Critics Patricia Erens, J. Hoberman, Michael Medved, Amy Kronish and Sharon Rivo discuss the changing image of the Jewish mother on screen. Israeli filmmakers Avram Hefner and Zepel Yeshurun and actress Gila Almagor illustrate the uniqueness of Israeli filmic images. Mamadrama includes selections from Come Blow Your Horn, Goodbye Columbus, Next Stop Greenwich Village, Jazz Singer, Portnoy's Complaint, Where's Poppa, Torch Song Trilogy, a compilation of rare Yiddish films and recent Israeli features.