Documentaries have come a long way from just providing somewhat “static” information to telling all kinds of stories with depth and breadth. For the Living, a new film about a topic that has been covered from every imaginable perspective, presents still, another view that is at once sweeping and specific. We need to recognize, value and teach empathy.
Written by Tim Roper, Marc Bennett and Brett Kopin, Directed by Marc Bennett and Tim Roper, with Cinematography by Patrick Lewtschanyn, Alejandro Marin and Del Feltz, Original Music by Daniel Alcheh and narration by Tim Roper, “For the Living” powerfully asks the question that all of us want answered – When are we finally going to say “NEVER AGAIN” and truly mean it? This film is inspiring!
The movie centers around Holocaust survivor Marcel Zielinksi who, at age 10, in January 1945, after 2 years as a prisoner in a death camp, embarked on a perilous 60-mile journey by foot from Auschwitz-Birkenau through an active war zone to Krakow, Poland. He was searching for any surviving family members. Decades later, 250 cyclists from 12 different countries traveled to Auschwitz and re-traced 84-year-old Marcel’s liberation path as a collective act of empathy called Ride for the Living.
What I found remarkable about the film was along with the requisite beauty of the ride, the enhancing music, the powerful archival films and erudite interviewees, this film leads the viewers to DO something positive.
Tim Roper, Co-Writer & Co-Director of For the Living generously agreed to answer questions about the film.
Q: I have never heard of the, “Ride for the Living”. How did you learn about it?
A: The Ride for Living has been an annual event in Poland since 2014 inspired by Robert Desmond’s desire to both educate and rally young people to learn about history and injustice and how that may impact their future as well.
This event came to our attention through our Executive Producer Melinda Goldrich who has been a participant and contributor to the event every single year since its inception. Melinda gives generously to numerous causes around the world that benefit both Survivors and badly needed education about the Holocaust. She wanted a wider audience of all faiths to know about and participate in the event. So, she contacted Marc and asked to get the ball rolling on a film about the event. To her surprise, she then was confronted with a creative team that expanded the story exponentially to a much more universal audience. Thankfully, Melinda saw the value and has been an amazing supporter every step of the way.
Q: Your contrast in the film of “darkness and light” are sweeping and powerful. Can you briefly describe how the decision was made to intersperse the hope and the atrocities?
A: The original mission statement for Ride for the Living included that language “A journey from Darkness to Light,” both as it pertains to Marcel’s liberation path by foot and the spirit of RFTL. Auschwitz can reliably be described as one of the darkest places on planet Earth due to how much depravity, death, torture and sadism took place there. As soon as we heard that phrase (“darkness to light”) we knew it could be both literal and symbolic. So, we were determined that the film needed to not just mention that aspect but embody it as well. Since RFTL was/is a collective act of empathy, we knew the endgame had to be exactly that: The opposite extreme of dehumanization (which is the tipping point in societies that fall into genocide). But, of course, no story would be complete by focusing on only one end of the spectrum. So, in the same way Marcel marched from dark to light, the human race too has struggled to move closer to the light. But, tragically, there are always forces that try to drag us backwards into the dark. I think that struggle is happening right under our noses in America at this very moment. RFTL and this movie hopefully remind folks that there is a better path. Together.
-I was struck by the concluding look at education and how we essentially “pit” children against one another by measuring who is better and best. Showing the cooperative nature of group learning and the teaching of empathy is so hopeful. What is your hope for this movie in this regard?
Prof. Timothy Snyder rightly pointed out that you have to start very, very young. And Prof. Franz de Waal suggested that we’re all (the vast majority of us anyway) born with the capacity for great empathy. We have a natural resistance to hurting others. So, we posed the question: How can we harvest that empathy and hopefully “inoculate” a generation from the susceptibility to eventually become dehumanizers? Our hope is that more and more schools will embrace Social Emotional Learning and integrate it organically into the curriculum so that a generation of kids will have the emotional antibodies to shield them from what we know is coming.
The important part to remember is that those impulses (dark/light, empathy/dehumanization) exist within every single one of us. And our hope is that illustrating this in a compelling story will help people everywhere acknowledge and resist those darker impulses and constantly remind themselves of our common humanity.
-What was the motivation for making this documentary?
It started with documenting the Ride for the Living event itself. But, like all stories, you have a premise where you can describe what physically happens, and then you have the universal issue underneath it that speaks to every single one of us. After Marc and I discussed, I was very keen on highlighting that more universal aspect. I follow A LOT of news and could see the struggle between the two extremes of human nature going on all around us every day. Yet no one was talking about this in human terms. In this story we had a literal masterclass on empathy in the relationship between Robert and Marcel. We also had a clear, distinct pattern of massive dehumanization leading up to all these genocides. Our goal is first and foremost to start a conversation: “When will we stop building monuments to The Dead and get busy re-humanizing The Living?” “When will we finally say NEVER AGAIN and truly mean it?”
-Was there some aspect of creating this film that stands out as being the most difficult?
This film was always intended to balance history with contemporary issues – big issues alongside a very intimate relationship. As we pressed forward, we found current events racing alongside us, and in some cases overtaking us…which can be tough to navigate. There were times when we would gnash our teeth and mutter, “Damn, we need be out there RIGHT NOW.” But there was always more work to do. More finishing touches to apply. So, I feel those contrasting emotions of both alarm and validation now that we’re seeing dehumanization and empathy being so widely discussed in the news media. The alarm comes from the fact that the phenomenon of dehumanization is spreading like a virus. The validation comes from how we crafted a hypothesis that is coming true before the film is even released: Our innate empathy is the key to defeating dehumanization. Ultimately, this all means that our films’ message now has more urgency than we ever imagined. We hope audiences agree and spread the word.
Note:”One of our film’s many interviewees, Ben Ferencz, prosecuted Nazi mass murderers in the Nuremberg war crime trials in the late 1940s. Just after wrapping this film, he passed away at the age of 103. This remarkable man—who helped liberate Europe as a soldier after D-Day and faced down Nazis in a courtroom—told us that the period that we’re living through right now is the most dangerous of his entire lifetime.”
About the 2025 Ride for the Living
See this film-Newport Beach Film Festival, Screening Date: Sunday, October 20, 2024 at 3:00 PM Big Newport 6: 300 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach, CA
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