Bourekas films

Bourekas films ( _he. סרטי בורקס), or movies, are a film genre, that was popular in Israeli cinema during the 1960s and 1970s [ [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/Film/IsraeliFilm.htm MyJewishLearning.com - Culture: Overview: Israeli Film ] ] .

The term was supposedly coined by the Israeli film director Boaz Davidson, the creator of several such films as a play-on-words of the "spaghetti western" genre (known as such because that particular sub-genre of the Western films was produced in Italy) (Bourekas is a notable dish from the Israeli cuisine).

The main repeating theme in most of the Bourekas films was the conflict between cultures of the Israeli ethnicities, and in particular between the Mizrahi Jews and the Ashkenazi Jews. The hero was usually a Mizrahi Jew, almost always poor, canny and with life intelligence, who comes into conflict with the institutions of the state or figures of Ashkenazi origin - mostly portrayed as rich, conceited, arrogant, cold-hearted and alienated.

Bourekas films were characterised by the different accent imitations, and in particular the accent of Jews originating from Morocco, Persia and Poland, slapstick humour, alternate identities and a combination of comedy and melodrama.

Actors and directors

The Bourekas films gained a lot of success in Israel during the 1960s and until the end of the 1970s, alongside harsh criticisms, which focused mainly in the shallowness of the themes and the substance of the films, and the low production costs. The prominent Actors and directors in these films include:

* Ze'ev Revach - an actor and director which participated in many popular Bourekas film comedies such as "Hagiga B'Snuker" (1975), "Charlie Ve'hetzi" (1974), "Rak Hayom" (1976), "Gonev Miganav Patoor" (1977), "Ta'ut Bamispar" (1979), "Ha-Muvtal Batito" (1987), "Lo La'alot Yoter" (1979), "Sapar Nashim" (1984), "Pa'amaim Buskila" (1998), and more. Revach eventually became the person which is most identified with the Bourekas films and continued to create those films until the end of the 1980s.
* George Obadiah - a director which created many melodramas which were influenced (and at times copied) from the Turkish cinema. The most prominent of his movies are : "Ariana" (1971), "Nurit" (1972), "Sarit" (1974), "Na'arat haparvarim" (1979), and more. Obadiah created also comedies like "Nahtche V'Hageneral" (1972), "Fishke Bemilu'im" (1971) and "Koreyim Li Shmil" (1973).
* Yehuda Barkan - an actor and director which participated in many Bourekas films such as "Lupo" (1970) and "Lupo B'New York" (1976), "Katz V'Carasso" (1971), "Charlie Ve'hetzi" (1974), "Hagiga B'Snuker" (1975), "Bo Nefotzetz Million" (1977) and more. Barkan also played in the 1980s film series "Abba Ganuv" and directed them.
* Boaz Davidson - Director of many Bourekas film comedies such as "Charlie Ve'hetzi" (1974), "Hagiga B'Snuker" (1975), "Mishpahat Tzan'ani" (1976), and "Lupo B'New York" (1976). His films "Charlie Ve'hetzi" and "Hagiga B'Snuker" had a 'revival' in the 1990s and a status of Israeli cult film status.
* Joseph Shiloach - Played in several Bourekas film comedies, in parallel with a set of dramatic and more serious roles he played in a variety of Hollywood films. A character which is identified with him in particular is "the Persian" - a somewhat sensualistic, grotesque which possesses a strong Persian accent.
* Tuvia Tzafir - Played in several Bourekas films, in particular in the rule of the grotesque "Ashkenazi" character.

The demise of the genre

Several prominent Bourekas films which were not commemorated until now were "Kazablan" (1974) (a story of a young Mizrahi guy which falls in love with an Ashkenazi girl, starring Yehoram Gaon), "Salomonico" (1972) and "Yi'ihiyeh Tov Salmonico" (1975) (with Reuven Bar-Yotam), "Ha-Shehuna Shelanu" (1968), "Ha-Meshahnei'a Ba'am" (1973), "Haham Gamliel" (1973), and more.

At the peak of prosperity of the Bourekas films their directors continued to get bad reviews from the critics and from the press, which claimed that the standard of the films was inferior, and is considered to be the same as a "theater in front of cameras". Although the films got bad reviews, the films gained massive amount of audiences, and those years are considered to be unprecedented in the ammount of Israeli viewers whom paid to see Israeli films in the theaters.

During the end of the 1970s the popularity of the Bourekas films began to demise significantly. The 1980s mark the end of this film genre, as Israel's film industry shifted to a more politically charged and highly-controversial topics. The reasons which lead to the demise of the genre were varied, but the most significant factor is attributed to the rise in popularity of television and video in Israel, which caused a considerable demise to the popular Israeli cinema. In addition to that, the secularization process of the Israeli society attributed a lot to intermarriages between Ashkenazi jews and Mizrahi Jews. And in addition to that, the the Mizrahi Jews intertwined into the Israeli society and gained more power positions in the Israeli society. In the 1980s only a few Bourekas films were produced, among them one of the more prominent films were Alex Holeh Ahavah (1986).

Nowadays many of the Bourekas films have gained cult status in Israel.

References