buygay.com

Amos Lassen wrote on 02/03/2009:

“SHEM”

Beauty Beyond Description

Amos Lassen

Every once in a while a movie comes along that leaves you weak. “Shem” (HP Releasing) is that kind of movie. When it was over I just sat, mouth agape and stunned. It was not just a movie, it was an experience. Both tender and shocking, both compassionate and erotic, this is not just a movie to be seen but to be delighted in, not just to enjoy while watching it, but a movie that will stay with you for a very long time. This one is a hit and you will want to watch it again and again.
Young Daniel (Ash Newman), our hero, is the star of this film and he carries it throughout but he does have a wonderful supporting cast to back him. Extremely handsome with a childlike angelic beauty, Daniel feels he needs to escape from his ennui of a tedious life. Living in London he finds himself disillusioned by the lack of meaning in his life and his Jewish roots. He begins a journey with the aim of finding his great grandfather’s grave. As he pursues his quest throughout Eastern Europe he comes into contact with a stunning and colorful cast of characters. It is trough these encounters that Daniel finds himself and his self identity. The photography is stunning, the panoramas are lush and beautiful and the director (Caroline Roboh) is the personification of perfection. She gives new definition to family values and tradition as well as personal discovery.
As Daniel travels he meets the past and caresses it as his present. He rambles through the capitals of Europe—Paris and Berlin. He tours Eastern Europe—Prague, Budapest and Sofia and eventually finds himself in Rome after running away from the former Communist countries. As he travels, he discovers what family is, what religion is, who he is and that things that he was indifferent to before have become embraceable
You may wonder what the title “Shem” means. It is the Hebrew word for name and it seems to mean that the main purpose of the movie is to remind us to never forget. What is a “shem”? What is the value of having a name if you do not know who you are? Daniel who started on a quest to have a good time found his name along with a spiritual life. He finds his “shem” even though he can find no trace of his great grandfather who died not even leaving a “shem” behind. There seems to be no record that he ever was—no grave, no name. It is as if Roboh tells us that those who died in the Holocaust had no name, many of us have no idea that they ever existed-there is nothing to remember them by, not even a name. The Nazis exchanged names for tattooed numbers on the arms of the captured. It isour name that tells us who we are and gives us a way ti be introduced by and something for others to address by. Imagine life with no name. Finding your identity is, in effect, finding out who you are, what your name stands for. To be nameless is to be nobody. When Daniel finds his past, his spirituality, himself, he finds his name. And upon finding his name he loses his arrogance, his frivolity, his rudeness. He becomes what he is meant to be—a person. When he discovers love, no matter how shallow he begins to be, when he finds his spirit he is almost whole. When he finds his past, he brings it to thje present and as we watch him mature, we see him as a representative of what all youth endures.
This film is so personal and yet so universal at the same time. It is a joyous celebration of life intermingled with tha sorrow of the past. “Shem’ is a festival of love and caring and as one watches it, even the stoniest will break. I feel so much better for having seen it and I am ready to sit down and watch it again…and again…and again. If you see nothing else this year, see this movie. You owe it to yourself.