Last Klezmer, The

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Director and musician Yale Strom set out in the mid-1980s to search for the remnants of klezmer music. Klezmer once referred to a musical instrument but today refers primarily to the performers themselves. Klezmer music is a folk style (sometimes called Jewish "soul" music) which bears a resemblance to traditional gypsy music and polka, and traces its roots back to Biblical times. Klezmer music bears the burden of preserving the history of a people as well as entertaining.

In Poland, Strom meets Leopold Kozlowski, described as "the last active klezmer musician trained in the original, prewar tradition." Like many klezmers, Kozlowski is deeply concerned with preserving a tradition nearly wiped out by the Holocaust. Kozlowski, born Poldek Kleinman in Przemyslany, Ukraine is also a Holocaust survivor.

At first we see Kozlowski rehearsing with singers and musicians in preparation for a large concert in Poland where, surprisingly, interest in Jewish culture and music has surged. The film soon veers sharply in another direction – east, to be exact. Strom follows Kozlowski back to his home city where he plans to revisit the places where his mother, father and brother were murdered by German soldiers.

Strom´s decision to shift focus from music to history is understandable but still unfortunate. The field of Holocaust documentaries is a very crowded and though every Holocaust story, by definition, is one that deserves and needs to be recorded, Strom is working in territory that has been explored by vastly more accomplished filmmakers.

There are powerful moments in the film. Kozlowski´s grief is palpable as he recounts his mother´s murder, and his recollection of his group (under German orders) performing a "death tango" as Jews were led to their execution in the concentration camp is chilling. There is also a grotesque irony when locals point Kozlowski to a field where murdered Jews are buried; the site has been marked with a cross (I wish I was kidding, but I´m not).

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