The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return

Ha'agada al Nicolai Ve'Chok Ha'shvut
Director: David Ofek
Israel 2008 54 mins
Language: Romanian and Hebrew with English subtitles
Awards: Winner of the Best Documentary Award - The Wolgin Award, Jerusalem International Film Festival 2008

As Nicolai watches the end of Communism from his tiny village in deepest Romania, he realises one thing: he must emigrate to find work overseas. Before long he finds himself alongside thousands of other migrant workers in Israel - alone, exploited and far from his pregnant wife. Desperate to better his situation, he escapes and is arrested as an illegal worker, before a chance piece of information transforms everything in ways that he never dreamt possible.

Both a highly engaging, personal story of a search for a better life and a penetrating look into the bureaucratic maze of Israeli immigration laws, the film is shot entirely with the original characters playing themselves in scenes from their own past. Full of deliciously ironic and deeply poignant moments, The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return is contemporary filmmaking at its best, tackling the weightiest of subjects with the lightest of touches. DB

The film will be followed by a discussion with Rabbi Daniel Rich, Chief Executive of Liberal Judaism, and Dr. Edie Friedman, Founder and Director of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.