''Awake Zion'' is a 2005

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

by Monica Haim that explores the connection between

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and

Rastafarians Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

Synopsis

In ''Awake Zion'', Haim travels from

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, interviewing Rastafarians and

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

s to highlight similarities between their worldviews. Haim, a young Jewish woman, says she first perceived a connection between Jews and Rastafarians at a

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

concert. Haim interviews Super Dane, an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

DJ in the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

reggae scene, who is shocked by

Matisyahu Matthew Paul Miller (born June 30, 1979), known by his stage name Matisyahu (; ), is an American singer, rapper, beatboxer, and musician. Known for blending spiritual themes with reggae, rock and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 sin ...

, a

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

reggae artist from White Plains,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The film also features Jamaican-born Israeli rapper Yehoshua Sofer. Yehoshua Sofer - closeup

Response

Most reviews of ''Awake Zion'' emphasize the documentary's social conscience in trying to bridge a gap between two seemingly different cultures. Rather than being scholarly, Haim's tone is described as "gently irreverent".

References

External links

The Cinema GuideReview of ''Awake Zion''Programa Radial de Reggae y Cultura de Jamaica
{{Authority control Jamaican documentary films 2005 films Films about music and musicians Documentary films about Jews and Judaism Documentary films about religion Rastafari 2000s Hebrew-language films 2005 documentary films 2000s English-language films 2005 multilingual films English-language documentary films

Synopsis

Response

See also

References

External links