An episode so moving, even the historian cried
Last night on television Gerard O’donovan
Those in the Labour party still determined not to adopt the internationally recognised definition of anti-semitism should really be required to watch last night’s Who Do You Think No one who saw lawyer and TV “judge” Robert Rinder retrace the story of his holocaust-survivor grandfather Maurice – who lost every member of his family to the gas chambers at Treblinka – could come away anything other than confirmed in the belief that anti-semitism must be stamped out.
This was one of two sad stories of the men in Rinder’s family. His great grandfather, Israel, had a rough time of it, too, ending up sectioned and confined to Friern Hospital in London for the last 15 years of his life – the result of a shattering psychological trauma suffered during his childhood, before he escaped Russia for England.
It was Maurice, though (from the Polish side of the family, who died in 2001), whose experience resonated the most. Rinder travelled to the modest former family home in Piotrkov to hear what his grandfather had spoken little of in life: of how the town had been the first in which Nazi forces had established a Jewish ghetto; how he spent years in slave labour in German munitions factories, while his parents, four sisters and a brother all met their deaths at Treblinka; how Maurice endured appalling suffering in a number of other camps before being liberated by the Russians in 1945, and getting himself sent to England as a “child” by lying about his age.
The story of how he recovered and learnt to live again in a small community of fellow survivors in Windermere was as affecting as anything we’ve seen over the 14 years that WDYTYA has been running. A startlingly poignant letter in which a reborn Maurice invited the psychologist who had aided his recovery to his wedding in 1951 brought tears even to the eyes of the historian who presented it to Rinder.
As a testament of the resilience of the human spirit this was immensely powerful indeed. Hearing of the courage and enduring decency with which Maurice forged his new life, one could only echo Rinder’s conclusion that it had been “a privilege, a real gift to walk that path with him.”
Brash, loud, uplifting, saturated with action, colour, song and dance, Bollywood: The World’s Biggest Film Industry (BBC Two) was a documentary that brought out the sheer vibrancy of its subject exceptionally well. Anita Rani was infectiously excited to be in India for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the world’s biggest film industry.
Her film was as much about modern India, and Bollywood’s place at the heart of it, as about the industry itself. Landing in Mumbai, Rani headed straight out to one of the city’s many cinemas for a night at the movies unlike any other – where a boisterous thousand-strong audience whistled, sang and generally clamoured along to a new blockbuster sequel.
Amid the organised chaos of subsequent set visits, location shoots and a hilarious dance sequence put together for her by star choreographer Kruti Mahesh, Rani introduced us to such terminology as “Masala movies” (“like the spice, a combination of all the best bits”) and “item numbers” (song and dance routines featuring a scantily clad “item girl” that are an essential feature of all Bollywood films). She met plenty of big names, including Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgn, yet also chatted to the children and extras on set, capturing all the fun and excitement from the ground up.
Always it was people rather than facts that Rani put the spotlight on, although her interactions allowed her to sprinkle in essential statistics (2billion cinema tickets sold every year, over 250,000 people employed in film-making) while at the same time delivering a fizzing sense of why Bollywood matters to ordinary people, and its deep roots in Indian culture. The sequences exploring the traditional storytelling role of dance, the extraordinary craft of the costumemakers, and the almost deity-like status accorded stars – way beyond anything even in western celebrityobsessed cultures – were fascinating.
It all made for a vivid and engaging introduction to one of the most vibrant creative industries in the world, and the people at its core. Next week’s concluding part, which Rani promises to take a deeper look at how Bollywood is adapting to a changing and frenetically modernising India promises to be still better.
Who Do You Think You Are? ★★★★ Bollywood: The World’s Biggest Film Industry ★★★★