The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page O16

ARCH 27, 2015 ARCH 27, 2015 17 Filmmaker Nancy new documentary and Bey has a simple message wrapped up in a complex story that continues to resonate seven decades later. The film tells the story of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War from the per- pective of the pilots who fought for the newly established state of Israel. The pilots, many of them American Jews who had fought in World War II, tell their stories with pathos, drama and a bit of salty umor. While the story focuses on Israeli history, its foundation is A merican the desire to help others in need, Spielberg said. Spielberg, the sister of director Steven Spielberg, comes to Greenville March 31to screen and at Furman, in an event rganized by the Greenville Jewish Federation.

Her credits include a documentary on Nazi hunters and another focusing on a mother caring for a disabled adult daughter, so his subject was a departure for Spielberg, who produced and he learned about the pilots who fought in the war after someone sent her the obituary of Al Schwimmer, credited as the father of the Israeli Air Force. eading the obit, Spielberg was surprised to learn that Schwim- er was an American flight engineer during World War II who later worked for TWA. Schwimmer happened to see a newsreel piece about the Holo- aust, it just got him so furious, and he saw that a lot of survivors were coming into Israel just as it was becoming a said Spielberg, chatting from her home in New York. was voted into statehood by the U.N., and he said, people even ave a because all the Arab countries surrounding Israel vowed to fight. There was a partition plan in 1947 dividing he country into a two-state solution, which the Jews in Palestine accepted, but the Arabs in Palestine rejected it and vowed to ight.

So everybody knew there was going to be a war. And Al Schwimmer said, not winning a war if they have no air Schwimmer began recruiting his friends, ost of them fellow World War II vets. They cobbled together a network of planes, some of them smuggled out of the United States, and began training in Czechoslovakia to fight on he side of the Israelis. the story that really hit me about that was, why would all of his buddies and why would he volunteer? They survived World War I supposed to be getting on with their lives but instead they decided to go fight in somebody war. And it because they had any Zionist knowledge or feelings.

So it was what compelled these men to go risk their lives, risk their passports. Why? Why did they do this? I think what set me on this journey, is to discover what motivated these she said. The documentary blends archival footage with CGI re-enactments a nd interviews with surviving pilots. Finding pilots was the biggest challenge, given the advanced age of the men of who fought in 1948, Spielberg said. I was Shimon Peres, former president and prime minister of Israel, who got the ball rolling.

Peres, who had known Al Schwimmer, put Spielberg in touch with a couple of pilots, who then helped recruit other survivors for her to interview. nce they had a few pilots willing to tell their stories, Spielberg and director Roberta Grossman began shooting, without a script or a clear direction of where the film was going. Two pilots died before hey began shooting, which added to the urgency. said, know, we have time to do this properly. Whatever little money we have, and even though we have a script, writing down a list of questions, and we are running to film these guys.

Because we Spielberg said. we literally did hile humor in the film, the pilots also share their real and ometimes painful memories of the prejudice they suffered. Anti-Semitism was a widely accepted attitude during that era, which those guys to do this because they get he said. came back, these highly decorated pilots, but commercial airlines hire Jewish pilots. And they had grown up with anti-Semitism, so in a sense that almost forced their hands, to go fly somewhere else, and maybe there was a little sense of adventure, and maybe it was also, Jewish, and been hurting me, and here a re these Jews having a hard One of hopes or the film is that viewers will look at Israel with and a deeper nderstanding of the factors that shaped its history and drive its current ilitary policy.

struggling ow with a rise of racial tensions and anti-Semitism throughout the orld. shocking that I almost feel like back in those ays with going on in this country. We sometimes have to look back to look forward, and maybe it will jar the younger genera tion who think, not in my Yes, in your country. This is what happened, and this will appen, and is possibly happening now, so got to do something to stop And I think also a great message of helping a brother in FILMMAKER NANCY SPIELBERG TELLS LITTLE-KNOWN STORY OF ISRAELI WAR By Donna Isbell Walker Entertainment writer WANT GO? What: Screening of and followed by with ilmmaker Nancy Spielberg hen: 7 p.m. March 31 Where: Younts Conference Center at urman University How much: Free, but seating is limited all: 864-294-2390 Ashot of volunteer pilots from the documentary and Nancy Spielberg comes to Greenville March 31for a screening of and.