When you see Chaim Lubelski for the first time in this documentary your first impression probably is that he is a bum: He is unshaven, wears old clothes with holes and is constantly smoking weed. Yet underneath that appearance a world of experiences is hidden away. He once was a successful businessman in New York where he earned millions exporting jeans, he was good at chess and believes he could have played with the best if he was able to concentrate more. Despite his successes, he also had to deal with setbacks. He lost his money in the stock market years ago and lived as a homeless man on the streets. His only goal now is to take care of his elderly mother who lives in Antwerp.
Nothing is more important to him. His mother is a Holocaust survivor and this clearly has had an impact on her. She lost many loved ones and it still haunts her. At night she barely sleeps and talks to her deceased parents, she doesn´t eat or drink much and constantly says she feels cold. Chaim is doing everything possible to make her life more comfortable. He cooks for her, gets newspapers and protects her from bad news. He tells her that her daughter was admitted to a psychiatric facility, although he knows she died a few years earlier. Chaim himself also talks about his life, what he has experienced and how his Jewish background still has an effect on him.
The film is directed by Elkan Spiller, who unfortunately hasn´t manage to raise the subject to a higher level. The result is a documentary in which there is a lot of repetition making it feel overly long. The quality of the movie footage also varies, as different cameras were used. Chaim is an interesting character, but his story was probably better told in the form of a shorter TV documentary.
I thin7k I might still check it out. He sounds like an interesting guy.
He is interesting, but as a whole documentary it felt too long.