Product: Heritage - Civilization and the Jews (1984)
Rating: 3.0
A SEMI SEMITIC (NON ARABIC) PERSPETIVE
On the noble, high-minded end of the DVD spectrum is the magnificent, three disc, nine part series "HERITAGE: CIVILIZATION AND THE JEWS" (Home Vision Entertainment). Hosted by Abba Eban, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, this absorbing Peabody Award winning series is nothing less than a look at five thousand years of history and culture. From the shores of the Dead Sea, to a Greek amphitheater in Delphi, from the ashes of concentration camps to the villages of modern Israel, "Heritage" attempts to bring into a highly personalized focus the long and complex history of Jewish cultural history and its intersection with Western Civilization. Ambassador Eban calls it a "a celebration of our common humanistic and moral heritage..."This highly absorbing epic is an often somber overview that's skewed through the admittedly rear view mirror of selective historical interpretation. It raises as many questions as it attempts to answer. A hot button subject that is a flashpoint in todays information driven global culture. This is a vivid and elegant execution of a 20 year project from 13/WNET New York that's supplemented by a DVD-ROM (PC only) that's a huge treasure trove of over 7000 multimedia elements -- articles, essays, maps, documents and interactive presentations. Highly recommended for consideration as we wage war for and against belief systems and seek unifying definitions of life itself.