MAMA, L’CHAIM! (Mama, to Life)

A film by Elkan Spiller

SYNOPSIS

The Holocaust is still alive in the 21st Century in the children and grandchildren of concentration camp survivors. They still have to cope with the consequences of the Shoah.

Mama, L’Chaim! portrays the life of 62-year-old Chaim Lubelski, who lives with his 95-year-old mother in a one-bedroom apartment in a Jewish residential home for the elderly. Chaim’s mother, Nechama, was born in Poland and survived the Nazi concentration camps. Her parents and her first husband were killed in Auschwitz. After the war, she and her second husband, Wolf, also a concentration camp survivor, wanted to emigrate to America, but they were denied because of Wolf’s tuberculosis and forced to stay in Germany.

Knowing what his parents had endured, Chaim made it his mission in life to care for them as they got older. After attending to his father during the last years of his life, he has spent the last three years caring for his mother 24 hours a day. These lively and humorous characters share both the light-hearted antics of daily life and the tears and memories of the Holocaust.

Going beyond psychology and historical facts, Mama, L’Chaim! avoids becoming another heavy Holocaust film and offers an insightful, touching and surprisingly joyful look at the plight of the descendents of concentration camp survivors.

Like his name, Chaim stands for life. With faith and humor, he accepts his fate and never gives up hope.

L’Chaim! (To Life!)

Elkan Spiller

email: elkanspiller@gmail.com