Hey folks, Harry here... Ahhhhh... SUNDANCE! I love this. Film after film... title after title of non-traditional Hollywood muck. Of non-politically correct - agenda filled and full on political works thrown on the silver screen. A serious documentary looking at the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg story needs and deserves the highest attention, especially given the rush to judgement that seems to be perculating all over the country. Unfortunately - this documentary won't be seen by too many, so in the meanwhile... check out the following books if this story fascinates you: The Rosenberg File, The Brother: The Untold Story of Atomic Spy David Greenglass and How He Sent His Sister, Ethel Rosenberg, to the Electric Chair, Secret Agents: The Rosenberg Case, McCarthyism, and Fifties America, In the Name of Security: The Trials of Alger Hiss / The Trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg / The Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Audio Theatre Series) and lastly The Rosenberg Letters : A Complete Edition of the Prison Correspondence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. That should fill you with a good dose of witch-trial-phobia...
Heir to an Execution
Ivy Meeropol has created a substantial documentary. The film tells the story of her grandparents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - the notorious spies who were executed for treason. I came in to the theatre knowing the bare bones of the Rosenbergs- life and fate. This period of American history seems very mysterious to me - and the Rosenbergs merely a sad footnote to that hate-filled time. Heir to an Execution isn't a history lesson, however. This film, instead, shows a very personal look at a family that was very publicly torn apart fifty years ago. The documentary focuses a lot of its energy on today. We see how some of the family still hides it head in shame, but more importantly, we view the almost inconceivable healing and restoration that seems to have occurred to members of this family.
This film was shot cheaply, or so the camera work would have you believe. All the interviews were shot with what looks like a small Handycam-type camcorder. The sound is good, all the interviewees are wired with lav mics. The archival footage and photographs are key to showing us the world at that time. Meeropol has chosen to the personal documentary style used by Michael Moore and others, which has her appear in much of the film. Used here, this is a very effective device to connect the audience to the subject matter. As Meeropol investigates and explores and interviews, the audience learns right along with her - we can put ourselves up on the screen with her.
This is Meeropol's first film. Her career has been in journalism and it shows. In this film, she is trying to come to some understanding about what happened to her grandparents and how that has affected her family now. From the interviews we learn that the Rosenbergs were almost certainly innocent of the crime for which they were executed - providing atomic secrets to the Russians. However, Julius at least could very well have been working for the Russians. (One of Julius' friends describes how Julius told him that he was trying to figure out a way to get some information to the Russians).
The heart of this film lies in the interviews with the Rosenbergs' sons' Ivy's father and uncle. These boys were something like 4 and 7 years old when their parents were taken. None of Julius' or Ethel's siblings would take them in. They were all trying to distance themselves from their notorious spy relatives. Realizing what they times must have been like, with McCarthy ruining careers and lives around the nation, it is hard to fault the families for doing this. In any event, the boys were traded back and forth between a grandmother and a pretty terrible orphanage.
The film reveals that Ethel could have come home any time she wanted. All she had to do is to accuse her husband and she would have been released. The film asks whether it would be better for her to do this and raise her family or if she chose the right path. Her family answers this question. We see that those who have embraced their parents' and grandparents' legacy have been made strong from the experience. They can even be proud of who they are. There is much more in this film: There is the story of Ethel's brother who condemned his sister to die by testifying against her. There is the explanation of how the government basically used Ethel, who they had no evidence against, as a hostage to get Julius to confess. The fundamental theme of the film is displayed in the last shot as we see the descendants of the martyred couple sit down to a large table for a warm meal.
Incidentally, Ivy Meeropol and her father conducted a very fulfilling question and answer session after the film. We were told that we were the first audience to see this film, I really hope that someone distributes this film. Of course, the way documentaries are treated by the public that is probably wishful thinking.
--A Pretentious Film Student
