It
is easy to see why banishment to Siberia was a favorite method of punishment
under the old Communist regime. It still seems like cold, isolated,
economically depressed region, at least judging from the footage shot by an
Israeli film crew. Ostensibly, they are
looking for Mishka Zilberstein, who as young Jewish boy reportedly took refuge from
the National Socialists with the wolves in the Belarus forest. Oddly enough, Zilberstein’s urban legend
might be the only thing that is true in Edan Zeira’s docu-drama hybrid, Lonely Planet (trailer here), which screens
during the 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival.
Zeira
and his Israeli-French crew are determined to find the mythical Mishka, but
each lead turns out to be a dead-end.
Supposedly, the real life Zilberstein eventually settled in a remote
corner of Siberia. Everyone seems to
know his story, but the locals are not exactly welcoming. At least all the trouble Zeira and his
colleagues got into was presumably fictional, unless Zeira really did agree to
a shotgun wedding to a provincial police chief’s pretty daughter, in which case,
Mazel tov.
This
is a very strange film, for obvious reasons.
Yet, despite its postmodern gamesmanship, it is worth listening up when
the real Zilberstein finally enters the picture. Indeed, Zilberstein is a fairly well
documented historical figure and viewers have no reason to doubt it is really
him consenting to tell his story (aside from all the meta-meta business that
came before). It is a powerful tale,
involving torture at the hands of both the National Socialists and the
Soviets. Essentially, Zilberstein was
reduced to an animal state, at a time when animals were more humane than
humans.
