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On the surface, Samuel Leibowitz is a regular 38-year-old ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jew, who was born and raised in London's Stamford Hill. He says his prayers, has Shabbat dinners and is involved within the community. What makes him different is the fact that he's served nine years in prison, in three countries, because of his multiple convictions for international drug-smuggling. This makes him a fascinating subject for the first of a three-part observational documentary series entitled Jews, about Jewish life in today's Britain, from producer/director Vanessa Engle. Considering the religious devotion of Engle's interview subjects across all three films, their honesty and openness is impressive. As was her dogged perseverance in snaring the 'lead character' Leibowitz, in the opening documentary The Prisoner, as he ducks and dives his way through the close-knit north London community. Engle had found a brief news article about him in the Jewish press describing how he'd been to court for drug-trafficking in the UK but that he'd been given a reduced sentence because the community had offered to absorb him and rehabilitate him. 'I seized on it,' says Engle. 'I felt there was a great story there and I tracked him down and started writing to him. Then he'd start to phone me and I visited him in prison a few times and took it from there. It was a hunch, I had no idea what he'd be like. It was a risk that paid off.' Through Leibowitz's eyes, the first film also explores the Cheredi (ultra-religious or Orthodox) community. 'There's not been a film about that community for decades,' says Engle, 'and this explores how they cope with a renegade [Leibowitz] and modern life.' Leibowitz, in turn, introduced the film-maker to members of the community, but not all of them were willing to be interviewed on camera. 'A lot of people wouldn't talk,' says Engle, 'but I'm very dogged. We made an awful lot of phone calls, hundreds.' A veteran in the documentary field, Engle has been making films for the BBC for 20 years and when BBC4 launched in 2002, she worked on the engaging Brit Art series, then a three-part documentary series called Art in the 60s before her 2006 political documentary Lefties. This venture, however, sees Engle embarking on a slightly more personal and exploratory path. Engle admits that she is not an expert on Judaism and calls herself a 'self-confessed secular Jew', and, ultimately, it was her lack of knowledge that made her want to investigate the religion and her own roots. 'Film-making is such a labour-intensive process anyway, you have to commit if you're going to embark on a series like this,' says Engle. 'It takes up a year and a half of your life.' advertisement
 As Engle points out, the Jewish community in Britain is shrinking – the number of Jews living in the country is only around 270,000. 'People feel that British Jews are visible,' says Engle. 'But I'd dispute that and say that people don't know much about them at all.' Even the subject of the Holocaust in Engle's second film (The Next Generation) provides new information for non-Jewish viewers as it looks at how the Holocaust still dominates the thoughts of second generation Jews – thanks to the psychological inheritance they carry. 'I've always wanted to do a film on the second generation, as I'm second generation myself,' says Engle. The third and final film, entitled Faith, is about the modern Orthodox community, who try to balance their observant life while living in the modern world. 'Again, I think this is new territory,' says Engle. 'I don't believe it's been filmed before because it's a closed community.' For this final film, Engle managed to get unparalleled access to former shoe magnate Jonathan Faith, who was said to be worth £50m in the 2004 Sunday Times Rich List and now devotes his time to Jewish philanthropy. 'The stereotype of Jews is that they merely accumulate money,' says Engle, 'but all observant Jews give away 10 per cent of what they earn. I thought that was so fascinating that I started researching.' When exploring this religious group, and one that Engle freely admits she's not part of, was she worried about the reaction from the Jewish community? 'Everyone's been supportive,' says Engle. 'There is a long, terrible history of anti-Semitism, it's not paranoia, so it's understandable that Jews are worried about how they're going to be portrayed.' But Engle makes clear that she didn't make this series with only Jewish viewers in mind. 'I'm not speaking for the religious community,' she says. 'I can't claim to speak for the Jews. This is meant for a wider audience, who don't know about this stuff.' |