In a testimony to the power of tolerance, filmmaker Menachem Daum, his wife, and their sons travel to a Polish town where his father-in-law and his two brothers hid from the Nazis with a non-Jewish family for 28 months. Daum proposes the journey when he becomes increasingly worried that his ultraorthodox sons, who live in Israel, have become affected by a culture of interfaith intolerance and distrust. At first, Daum’s family resists his idea, unwilling to explore the country of their family’s persecution. But eventually, they agree to go along. His father-in-law fears for their safety, and also worries that the Muchas, the family who hid him, will demand compensation or express anger over his failure to keep in touch with them after the war.As they travel to the Mucha farm, the family visits sites important to their history–visiting relatives’ graves, and giving a blessing at a former synagogue–both emblems of a once-thriving Jewish community. Later, as Daum’s wife and sons tour the farm, their cynicism gives way to raw emotion. After so many years, the Muchas find the expression of gratitude they seem desperate to have desired, and the Daums tearfully piece together their history. Ultimately Daum’s journey begins to heal wounds between the two families and provides a solid foundation from which to increase interfaith tolerance, within his own family and the world.
Reviews
“HIDING AND SEEKING is a sensitively directed, highly humane look at the ties that bind.”
Box Office – Shlomo Schwartzberg
“A deeply personal film, HIDING AND SEEKING explores the greater effects of the Holocaust on faith…”
Los Angeles Times – Kevin Crust
