With the year coming to a speedy end, it is time to take a look at some of the excellent “Jewish” films that made their debut on DVD in the past 12 months, including two made right here in Canada.

But before we get to that, I’d like to tell you about two TV miniseries that were released in full on DVD during the year 2008.

Masada, the 1981 miniseries about the Jewish revolt against Roman rule in the 1st century, is now available in its complete version, as it was shown on television when it was first aired. This DVD contains the original introduction and ending, two important sections that were cut out of the VHS release. In fact, this DVD is especially welcome because the VHS release was badly edited, with entire sections cut out and other sections moved around. The result was a mess. This DVD corrects all of these mistakes.

Holocaust is the other TV miniseries that was released on DVD recently. And once again the DVD release contains the entire series in one very compact and easily handled DVD. This is a must for anyone who hasn’t seen the landmark series or just wants to refresh their memories.

Theatrical films that have been released on DVD include the wonderful Israeli film, The Band’s Visit. This pleasant little comedy won rave reviews throughout the world and was one of Israel’s most successful films to enter the international market.

Also released this year was the Academy Award winning Austrian film, The Counterfeiters, about a group of counterfeiters who were forced to produce bogus English and American currency for the Nazis. If you haven’t seen this film, you should do so now.

And then we have the heartwarming and magical Brazilian film, The Year My Parents Went On Vacation. This was the film that opened the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (TJFF) in 2007. It tells the story of a young boy being left at his grandfather’s place while his parents go underground in order to avoid arrest by the military junta then governing Brazil. What the parents did not know was that the grandfather had died suddenly a short time before and the grandfather’s friends and neighbours take on the task of caring for the child.

For all the people who wanted to see The Rape of Europa, now is your opportunity. It was released on DVD in September. This too played at the TJFF and was the closing film in 2007. It is a powerful documentary about the Nazi theft of Europe’s art treasures, and the allies attempts to recover and return these art works.

Also available on video is the American film, Arranged. It was shown at the TJFF in 2008 and deals with the similarities between muslim and Jewish culture as far as arranged marriages are concerned. The film tells the story of a young Jewish Orthodox school teacher who doesn’t like the man her parents have chosen for her, and a young muslim School teacher who is also being married off to a man chosen by her family.

Then we get to the Adam Sandler film, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, a comedy that misses the mark on many levels, yet is interesting for being one of the first attempts by an American movie star to portray an Israeli, and it contains some exellent Israeli music on the soundtrack. It was also very nice to see Montreal born and Toronto raised Emmanuelle Chriqui who plays a beautiful Palestinian hair salon owner in that film.

And one of the best Israeli films to hit the North American market in quite some time, Beaufort, is also now available on DVD. This is the story of a small group of Israeli soldiers stationed in the Crusader fortress of Beaufort in Lebanon, just as Israel is planning to bring the last of their forces back home. In the meantime, the fortress is under constant attack by rocket bombardment and the film questions whether the casualties they suffer are worth the effort.

The two Canadian films that have been released on DVD this year are the two films that opened and closed the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. The opening film, Fugitive Pieces, is an interesting adaptation of the best selling Canadian novel and follows a young boy who is saved from the Nazis by a Greek archeologist. The boy’s experience during the Holocaust and his inability to find any trace of his family, have left an indelible mark on his mind.

The other Canadian film is Emotional Arithmetic which stars Susan Sarandon as a Holocaust survivor who now lives in Quebec and learns that the man who saved her life during the war has been released from a Soviet prison. She invites him to come visit her on her farm, which he does, bringing another survivor along with him.

Most of these films should be available at video stores. For the more difficult-to-find titles, you should get in touch with some independent video stores or try to obtain them online.