Watermarks is a wonderful documentary written, directed, and produced by Yaron Zilberman. It is the story of the women of the Jewish sports club Hakoah Vienna. Hakoah means strength in Hebrew. The club was founded in 1909 when the Aryan Paragraph denied Jewish people entry into Austrian sports clubs. The club quickly grew and began to dominate several sporting categories. The 1930’s in particular saw the Hakoah women’s swim team rise to dominance in competition. In 1938 the Anschluss, the unification of Nazi Germany and Austria, occurred and the club was disbanded by Hitler. Fortunately for the women of the Hakoah swim team, the vast network of people involved in the club were able to smuggle them out of Austria to various countries. 65 years later Yaron Zilberman travels to meet the various women of the Hakoah swim team, now in their 80’s, and invites them to return to Vienna for a reunion which will culminate in their swimming in the pool they used to practice and compete in.
The story is told in a very conversational style. It is almost like sitting at the feet of your grandmother while hearing tales of her youth. All of these women continue to be in phenomenal physical and mental shape for their ages and many continue to swim regularly to this day. Watermarks has its share of humor and is both sad and triumphant, because while these women were able to escape the fate of many Jews they did not pass through the horrors of the holocaust unscathed. Like many documentaries that fall in this time period the atrocities of Hitler and Nazi Germany are discussed, but unlike most documentaries it is what isn’t said that is even more powerful. Zilberman has filmed Watermarks in such a way that the holocaust is an overaching theme while not being the dominate theme of the movie. The movie is as much a celebration of the lives of the Hakoah women’s swim team as it is about the tragedy that forever changed their lives.
For many of the women this trip is the first time that they have been to Vienna since the day they fled from the Nazi occupation. The reunion is one of happiness mixed with melancholy and there is one particular incident with a cab driver and one of the women that points out how some attitudes have yet to change from those of 1938. Overall though Watermarks is a story of women who rose above their circumstances and made a success of their lives. The extras on the DVD are as entertaining as the film. Each woman has excerpts that were edited from the film, mostly because they did not work with the theme that Zilberman was going for. They are a must see however as they are sometimes funny and sometimes very sad. If you rent this, watch the extras.
I highly recommend this very unique and interesting documentary.
Sounds very interesting. I love documentary’s like this. I will have to watch this one.
Yeah Karen put this one on the mail list and I was like what the heck is this. If Carl says it is good it must be, because he doesn’t like just any movie…
Yes, but will this be one that you like? You guys and the Dibbens shot me down over Mr. and Mrs. Smith just the other day! 😉 The nice thing about this is it is a family friendly film. Obviously a child has to be a certain age to get it but at least there is nothing objectionable in it. Tori really enjoyed watching it with us.
Oh cool. I love a good doc. Carl, have you seen Errol Morris docs? Wow, he is incredible! Just ask Sarah.
Sarah? Who is Sarah? he, he
I really enjoyed the documentary. The moment I found especially poignant was when one of the ladies shared with her granddaughter the details of her life during the Nazi occupation. The young women said that her grandmother had never told her the story until that day.
Rob, you’re lucky I love docs too. 🙂 This does look fascinating!
I think you both would enjoy it Rob and Sarah! I haven’t heard of Errol Morris but will be checking into them.
Errol Morris really does some amazing things with non-fiction film. I felt so completely drawn in by Fast Cheap and Out of Control; when the movie ended I felt like I left with some of the same quirky passions that the subjects of this doc had. A neat experience; I highly recommend this film.
Sounds interesting. I will have to check it out sometime. Thanks for the heads up.
Good review, Carl. I was a little hesitant to read it since I have the movie here, but haven’t watched it yet. Your review didn’t give too much away, just made me more eager to see it. And I will watch the extas, especially on this one.
Will be eager to see what you think Pat once you see it.
I watched it tonight and thought it was excellent. I enjoyed the photographs from that era and the background music was so well done. I’ll probably have to have the cd. I loved the scene at the end with them all swimming. I thought the background music for that scene was perfect. I loved their attitudes toward aging also. Do you remember: was it nominated last year? this year? This is one I’ll watch again before I send it back.
I had a P.S., as it usually takes me some time to process something that had a big impact on me. Those women are so incredible. They’ve been on my mind all day. How I wish I could sit and talk to them. It also occurred to me how they refute, as does that generation, the studies on the physical effects of long term stressors. It seems to have had the opposite effect upon them. Also, I would have liked to have heard what happened to the other women.
Did you watch the extras on the DVD as well Pat? If not you certainly need to! Glad you enjoyed it. It really is an entertaining documentary and I too would find the women fun and fascinating to converse with. And whatever there secret is for being that physically and mentally healthy at that age I need to bottle some. Did you see the guy that was 107? He didn’t look it and was very sharp too!
Don’t know if you’ve had a chance to watch the Frazetta DVD I loaned you Pat but I think you’d really enjoy it also.
Yes, I did watch the extas. They add a great deal to the documentary itself. I especially liked the extra conversations with them. Yes, I watched the first disc on Frazetta, haven’t watched the second yet. I loved his drawings. That was a great advantage I had, growing up with an artist and watching the step by step process to a painting. I enjoyed watching his process.
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