Reviewing Movies

What young adult hasn’t some time or other wished he could tell his employer, “take this job and shove it”; his lover, “go to hell”; and the world in general, “stop, I want to get off”. In the movie Shem Daniel, played by Asier Newman, does all three; then goes to visit his Jewish Grandmother—the only person he really cares for. Grandmothers are not responsible for raising their grandsons so they don’t have to be judgmental; they only have to love them. So his Bubba sends Daniel on a trek across Europe to find the non-existent grave of his great-grandfather. In the journey that follows Daniel learns a great deal about his ancestors, his Jewish roots, their common heritage and history—but more particularly he begins to discover himself.

On the way he lives a hedonist lifestyle, indulges his bi-sexual tastes, and parties hearty. It is remarkable the number of people who are attracted to this lost soul and take him in. In one notable scene a rabbi takes him home to have dinner with his family and he embarrasses himself with his lack of religious and cultural etiquette. In a scene that makes the hairs on the back of one’s neck stand on end he stands in the middle of a stark stone room filled with the names of millions of Jews lost in the Holocaust. He walks through the ruins of desecrated graveyards looking for a name. When he finally hits rock bottom he is visited by the spectre of his lost great-grandfather. In the end what he finds is himself and the movie ends with his Bubba meeting up with him in Rome.