{"id":102,"date":"2021-02-17T20:38:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T20:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-w21-amelia\/?p=102"},"modified":"2021-02-17T21:22:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T21:22:05","slug":"oma-and-bella-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.evergreen.edu\/tmtaa-portfolio-w21-amelia\/oma-and-bella-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oma and Bella"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oma and Bella<\/em>, Dir. Alexa Karolinski, performance by Bella Katz and Regina Karolinski, Oscilloscope Films, 2012, Amazon Prime Video. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oma and Bella<\/em> centers around two elderly Holocaust survivors, Regina and Bella, living in Berlin. The film follows the two as they prepare traditional Jewish dishes and go over their lives, chronicling their experiences with love and loss, pain and joy. Taking place mostly in their small apartment kitchen, you get an up close look at how the two use food to connect to the past while still remaining very much in the present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This film really highlights just how much warmth and love is generated in the kitchen and the connections people make with food. It is clear just how much the two women love each other and how much they love cooking together. For them, food is a way to connect to a past that was ripped away from them, a way for them to tend to wounds that have remained since childhood. Although the two women are Holocaust survivors, both entering the camps at around 13, there are not black and white shots showing emaciated prisoners or piles of dead bodies. Instead, the film focuses on old family photos when looking back on the past. I really appreciated this because it shows that there is so much more to survivors lives than what they have survived. This film is not about mourning, it is about celebrating life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oma and Bella <\/em>is a testament to how healing and uniting food can be. It also shows just how connected to food Jewish people are. When so much has been taken away from them, sometimes all that one can hang onto is remembered recipes from childhood and the joy of eating with friends. The stories the two women tell from their childhood also show how, even before the Holocaust, food was a glue that held families and communities together. This film is a love letter to food and community, a reminder that sometimes food can be the most powerful tool to keep the darkness away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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