Back to Berlin is a compelling documentary from filmmaker Catherine Lurie-Alt, retracing the pilgrimage of 11 bikers as they travel from Tel Aviv over to Greece and up through Eastern Europe into Berlin. Flying an Israeli flag and bringing the Maccabiah torch back to Germany just shy of 80 years after Jewish athletes were first hosted by Adolf Hitler. Looking to celebrate those early trailblazers who first brought the Maccabiah Games to Berlin.
The Olympic Games in 1936 was rife with Nazi propaganda and would come to foreshadow more than antisemitic sentiment. An attempt at cultural eradication would follow in one of the most perfectly orchestrated mass exterminations of a people in living memory. In the aftermath of those events, Back to Berlin follows these bikers setting off in search of answers 80 years on, encountering obstacles of their own on route.
What makes this documentary so powerful is not the numbers exterminated, but those recollections caught on camera which give voice to these atrocities. Memories of inhumanity inflicted by those who felt entitled to discriminate. People swept up in the Nazi mentality of persecution that would come to define Hitler’s grand plan. Captured through stock footage, talking heads, and roadside conversations that combine to create a compelling travelogue. Mapping out the emotional impact of a cold-blooded choice that would almost wipe out a way of life.
Image Courtesy of Luria Media
These recollections are the beating heart of Back to Berlin and stop it feeling like a passion project. At no point do things feel orchestrated, manipulated, or interfered with for the sake of a reaction. There is an authenticity to the conversations that add gravitas without acknowledging audience, and individual moments hit harder as a result. Travelogue elements are seamlessly blended with family recollections, while monuments to the Holocaust speak for themselves.
Whether they stop at Auschwitz-Birkenau or Treblinka, Back to Berlin never dwells on the past for affect. This journey is undertaken with optimism and openness, giving the film a self-awareness on the subject matter that lends it compassion. Considering current events, Catherine Lurie Alt’s expose into this tumultuous time for the Jewish faith feels timely. Persecution can take many forms and putting them on a cinematic pedestal for the sake of awareness is something this film does effortlessly. Mainstream movies like Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest may have left an indelible mark of their own, but Back to Berlin does it differently.
This is not only a film about the Holocaust, but something that seeks to educate and enlighten audiences interested in the Jewish identity. It is a call to arms going back to World War II, when Hitler challenged anything that deviated from his ideals. However, this is no militant documentary with a hard-line political agenda, looking to browbeat naysayers into submission. Back to Berlin triumphs because it celebrates cultural identity through personal connections, forging a film from the ashes of atrocities by lacing them with compassion and forgiveness.
Back to Berlin is available to stream on demand now.