First Person Plural Film

The film First Person Plural is a documentary made by Deann Borshay Liem, a Korean orphan who was adopted by Americans living in California.  This film was very interesting because it was shot in the first person by Deann herself, as she explores her Korean heritage that turns out to be much different than what she originally thought it was.  Brought up believing that her family was all deceased, Deann was shocked to learn that this was not the case, and so she sets out on a quest to reunite with her biological family back in South Korea.  The most compelling part of the film for me is when Deann begins to struggle with the concept of having two families, each of a different ethnicity, all at once and how that will affect her life.  Although her Korean family is where her biological ties lie with, her American family is that one that has brought her up and loved her over the years.  The climactic part of the film is when Deann convinces her adoptive parents to travel with her to Korea to meet her biological family.  To me, I cannot even begin to imagine the emotional and psychological predicament that Deann is caught in throughout the course of this film.

Number Our Days

The film Number Our Days, a documentary by Dr. Barbara Myerhoff, is an in-depth look at an elderly Jewish community in a town of California.  Filmed during the 1970’s, Dr. Myerhoff, raised Jewish herself, decided to study the livelihood of an aging, tight-knit community of Jews in a particular town. Dr. Myerhoff reveals the struggles of these proud people, through their battles with the effects of age and poverty, but also in this way she shows their perseverance.  The community is centered around the town’s Jewish senior center, which serves as the cultural and day-to-day center for this particular group of people.  Here they can congregate, talk about their lives and their heritage in both English and Yiddish, and at least just momentarily they can escape the harsh realities of a world that has passed them by, but will never take away their pride and heritage.