Being Jewish In Character

From the original screenplay by Andrew Niccol of Lord of War:

RADIO ANNOUNCER

(impossibly upper-crust British accent)

--Finally, in response to human rights protests and in an effort to encourage the United States to sell grain to the Soviet Union after two successive crop failures, it is reported that the politburo has consented to permit a limited number of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union to Israel.

(beat)

And that concludes this edition of news from the BBC World Service.

Anatoly, deep in thought, switches off the radio. IRINA enters, puts Yuri's "feast" on the table. They speak Ukrainian, subtitled.

ANATOLY

(incredulous)

Trading Jews for grain.

VITALY

(reaching for a banana)

It's good P.R. - for the Moscow Olympics.

IRINA

(shrugs)

Good for the Jews.

YURI

And us.

All eyes to Yuri, family confused.

YURI (cont'd)

(matter-of-fact)

We're Jewish.

VITALY

(scoffing)

We're not Jewish.

YURI

(shrug)

We're Jewish if we say we're Jewish.

The stunned family stares at him - out of the mouths of babes. Anatoly finally breaks the silence, pours Yuri a drink.

ANATOLY

Mazeltov.

Yuri and the family drink to their new identity.

EXT. CEMETERY, ODESSA. DAY.

A sea of Jewish gravestones.

YURI and ANATOLY bribe the cemetery CUSTODIAN.

YURI (V.O.)

There have been few occasions in the twentieth century when it's been an advantage to be a Jew.

Under his father's watchful gaze, Yuri takes a rubbing from one of the headstones - "ORLOV".

INT. UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE. DAY.

ANATOLY, with YURI at his side, presents the rubbing along with other crudely forged paperwork confirming their Jewish ancestry to a CLERK. "ORLOVITCH" now "ORLOV".

YURI (V.O.)

The rubbing from the Jewish headstone was my first forged document. Little about my life has been kosher ever since.

The Clerk gives Anatoly and Yuri the once-over, then stamps an emigration visa.

INT. APARTMENT, BEDROOM. NIGHT.

Suitcase in hand, YURI surveys his bedroom for the last time...Yuri stares at himself in the mirror. He replaces his stolen Soviet pin for a necklace - a Star of David.

INT. BEN GURION AIRPORT - TEL AVIV. DAY.

CLOSE UP on a heavily-retouched photograph of GOLDA MEIR. She's still not pretty.

YURI stares up at it.

YURI (V.O.)

We Russian Jews were supposed to be headed for Israel but I didn't see much of the country on that first trip.

We reveal he is standing in a jam-packed, standing-roam-only

"TRANSIT" lounge.

YURI (V.O.)

Real Jews or fake Jews, eighty-five percent of us ended up in that other "promised land".

The Pan American destination board reads: "PA 447 to NEW YORK".

EXT. BRIGHTON BEACH - "LITTLE ODESSA". DUSK.

In the distance, a roller coaster in Coney Island, silhouetted against the afternoon sky. "Little Odessa", New York - 1984 The camera travels off the coaster to a restaurant, apartment above it.

YURI (V.O.)

We congregated in New York's Brighton Beach because of its similarity to the Crimean Sea. I've always thought it's appropriate we moved next door to the circus.

INT. "CRIMEAN RESTAURANT" - LITTLE ODESSA. DAY.

A typical Jewish establishment with all its paraphernalia - menorah on the mantle, etc. The family sits in a small dining room attached to the restaurant. ANATOLY reads the Torah as he waits for dinner with YURI and VITALY.

YURI (V.O.)

I had no idea my father would take his assumed identity so much to heart. I guess he just stayed in character.

YURI, older, as we now know him, studies school work. Long-haired

VITALY watches "Band Aid" on TV.

IRINA puts a plate of mussels in front of Anatoly.

ANATOLY

(glaring at the plate, incredulous)

How many times--I can't eat shellfish. It's "treyf".

IRINA

You're not Jewish.

ANATOLY

I like it.

(picking up his felt fedora)

I like the hat - to remind us there's something above us. I like that.

Anatoly dons his hat.

ANATOLY (cont'd)

I'm going to temple.

IRINA

You're not going to temple. You go to temple more than the rabbi!

Vitaly begins eating his father's plate of mussels. Yuri watches his father exit.

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