Woody Allen
Zelig

Zelig in Hebrew means blessed.

Zelig was released in 1983, and by then, Woody Allen was already famous. He had numerous successful films under his belt, the standout being Annie Hall from '77, which snagged 4 heavy statuettes that they call Oscars...

In this time frame, another one of his most famous films, Manhattan from '79, was released, leading us to his controversial (in terms of critical and public reaction) Stardust Memories from 1980. It was a flop at the USA box office, a bit better in Europe; it was his Heaven's Gate... an introspective film with echoes of Bergman and Fellini, in short, however you view it, it just doesn't hit the mark.

I'll show you who I am, the song says, and Woody probably said the same when he played his ace: Zelig.

Now, I'm well aware that Woody Allen is a strong figure, even though I'm not (after Zelig, I have to say I wasn't) a die-hard fan of his, I especially appreciate his humorous and comedic side, less so his endless dialogues and love stories... in short, for me, it's much better Take the Money and Run and Play It Again, Sam than Annie Hall or Manhattan...

But it's only with Zelig that I realized he is much stronger than I thought!

Zelig is an exceptional, original, surprising, incredible film, and I could go on...

Just to think of such a film, and to realize it in that way...

Zelig is set in 1928 and is a mock documentary. A mockumentary (mock = joke, prank) with an initial dedication to the (imaginary) characters present in the documentary.

The operation is complex: his cinematographer procures archival footage from that period and, one way or another, sneaks Woody Allen, pardon, Leonard Zelig into it. Still, he uses black and white film, dirty and opaque to faithfully reproduce the grain and quality of the films of that historical period to shoot scenes of our protagonist's life, his psychiatric sessions with Dr. Eudora Nesbitt Fletcher (Mia Farrow, a great actress, who was Allen's partner from 1980 to 1992). It may seem quirky, yet, technically it works. So it's believable.

Making the documentary even more "authentic" is another "sublime" idea from this little bespectacled devil. I'm talking about the interviews, done 50 years later, with people who "were there" at the time and narrate the backstory of the event, providing interpretations. The interviewees are notable Jewish intellectuals who play themselves. The interviews are rigorous, I'd dare say marvelous (and I'm not just saying that because it rhymes).

Who is Leonard Zelig? Good question... he's everyone and no one (haha) but Zelig has a characteristic that is, shall we say, supernatural! He can, in a matter of seconds, take on not just the personality of his interlocutor but even their physical traits!

Simply unbelievable! He can transform in a matter of seconds into an Oriental, a Native American, an African American... of course, word gets out, it becomes public knowledge: it's a frenzy. I won't tell you what happens, just know that the inventiveness and creativity behind this work is astonishing, in making such absurdity believable and interpreting the reactions to the phenomenon of an entire country and then Europe, where Zelig goes on tour... Oh, but I don't want to spoil it. Oh dear, what do you want to spoil, even if I tell you everything in detail, later, when you see it, it'll still be an epiphany for you...

Although much of the film, being a documentary, contains the narrator's voiceover, Zelig contains some of the finest Allen lines in his repertoire.

In Zelig, Woody Allen makes it very clear what kind of artist he is, even as a director, thus technically. Cinema of this kind, told this way, with this structure, truly hadn't been seen before.

And if you're still convinced that I'm just a witty humorous director and sharp intellectual, I'll see you in four years with The Purple Rose of Cairo.