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History may be full of inventive people turning unexpected hardship into great success, but not many can claim that they responded to the rise of a dictatorial state by creating a national arts institution halfway around the world. Josh Aronson’s documentary Orchestra of Exiles profiles just such an individual in Bronislaw Huberman, a violinist who left Europe in the early years of Germany’s Third Reich to found what would someday become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Even if the telling gets a little stretched, the story remains compelling.
Displaying an uncanny musical ability at an early age, Polish-born Huberman quickly became a star in Europe. The film charts his rise and his first visit to Palestine, where he developed the idea of bringing classical European music to the Holy Land. Recognizing early the danger that Hitler’s growing power posed to the Jews, he pushed to make that dream a reality. He purposefully recruited European Jews to move to Palestine to form the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra, which would eventually become the institution that we know now in the state of Israel. In the process, he preserved not only the lives of 1,000 European Jews but also the musical tradition that they represented.
The obstacles present in moving that many people that far away would be difficult enough, but shaping them into a world-class orchestra set very prominently in the public eye makes the whole endeavor that much more unbelievable. From fighting with British immigration officials—then the overseers of Palestine—to recruiting noted Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini for the premiere performance, Huberman remains resolute.
With a story this simple and this good, the best thing a documentary can do is keep things moving and get out of the way. Aronson mixes his approach with interview footage, voice-over narration, and a series of silent re-enactments. There’s a nice mix to the interviewees, including past and current members of the IPO, descendents of original members, and musical history scholars. These interviews form the majority of the documentary, and the editing allows them to keep the narrative moving cleanly.
The voice-overs of original documents and letters are mixed with archival footage and photography, adding a slight Ken Burns feel without getting too corny. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the re-enactments, which do function to underline the narrative but too often come off like a community theater production.
The DVD release also includes an interview with Aronson and a series of two- to three-minute featurettes that were clearly assembled from leftover footage. They provide a little more depth to points that are glossed over quickly in the feature—including a bit about the theft of Huberman’s signature Stradivarius violin—but they don’t really make for essential viewing.
Stories of human courage and ingenuity will always be welcome, and Orchestra of Exiles tells a lesser-known one quite well. Its occasional missteps are forgivable for introducing audiences to Huberman and his story of saving not only lives but also an invaluable musical legacy.
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