L ifestyle /C ulture
CNN’s ‘Jerusalem’ Worth the Watch
T E L EVISION
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
A SERIES IS ONLY as good
as its characters, and when
history is its subject matter,
the characters are all there. It’s
just on the producers to deliver
an interesting and entertaining
product. In CNN’s “Jerusalem: City
of Faith and Fury,” they do
just that.

Blackfin, the production
company behind the six-part
docuseries, premiering on
CNN at 10 p.m. on July 18,
wanted to explore the holy city’s
history to help viewers under-
stand its connection to the
present-day Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, according to Executive
Producer Jordan Rosenblum.

And if
you watch
“Jerusalem,” you will see the
truth in the cliché that history
repeats itself: Jews, Christians
and Muslims all consider
Jerusalem to be their sacred
place, so they keep fighting
over it, but nobody really wins
in the end.

The series makes this histor-
ical lesson clear by focusing
on charismatic leaders in each
religious group, all of whom
try to do the same thing —
establish absolute control over
Jerusalem for their people —
and all of whom fail in the
long run. There’s King David;
there’s Richard the Lionheart,
the ferocious warrior-king of
England; and there’s Saladin,
the tactical mastermind who
defeats the Christian crusaders
in the legendary Battle of
Hattin. There are several others
as well, including David
Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir,
the driving forces behind the
creation of modern-day Israel
and its strategic alliance with
the United States.

Rosenblum and his team
use a stylized combination
of cinematic, academic and
18 JULY 15, 2021
journalistic qualities to bring
these epic characters to life.

Cinematically, actors play out
the ancient scenes. This can be
an annoying and superfluous
feature in documentaries that
are designed more to educate
than to entertain. But in
“Jerusalem,” it works, and it adds
a layer of entertainment that
most documentaries don’t have.

In the series’ first episode,
“The Kingdom,” about King
David’s conquest of Jerusalem,
and in its third episode, “Holy
War,” about the conflict over
the city between Muslims and
Christian crusaders, the actors
who play David, Richard the
Lionheart and Saladin use
walking styles, facial expres-
sions and postures to leave
indelible impressions in the
minds of viewers. That they pull
this off without dialogue makes
it all the more impressive.

The actors don’t need to
speak, though, because the
experts likely have far more to
say than any script could. And
in “Jerusalem,” the experts are
a group of academics/history
nerds who have no trouble
showing their passion for the
subject matter. They inflect with
their voices and gesticulate with
their hands. They offer timeless
lessons about history and power,
like how a good leader can unite
warring factions within a tribe,
in accessible and memorable
terms. They show almost no
bias toward any of the three
religions. Sports TV shows often
make the mistake of not using
enough writers, the people who
spend their days thinking about
the games. The producers of
“Jerusalem” don’t make the same
mistake because when it comes
to the history of the holy city,
these academics are the people
who spend their days thinking
about it, and Blackfin makes
the right call in depending on
them to explain it.

“It was a deliberate decision
not to do dialogue (with the
Cleopatra, ruler of ancient Egypt, in CNN’s docuseries “Jerusalem.”
Herod the Great in CNN’s docuseries “Jerusalem.”
actors),” Rosenblum said.

Rosenblum also said that
CNN was a partner in this
project from the beginning of
its development, which was
logical, as the project, at its
core, was journalistic.

The actors and their colorful
scenes, the professors and
their passionate commentary
— all of that works because
it’s grounded in not just an
adherence to factual accuracy,
but in an efficient deployment
of the facts themselves. Such
details are used to deepen
the audience’s understanding
JEWISH EXPONENT
without overwhelming its
senses. Years and eras are
mentioned to give viewers
a sense of ancient stories as
history, and not just as tall
tales. Some gray political reali-
ties, like Richard the Lionheart
facing a threat to his English
throne as he tries to expand
his empire to Jerusalem, are
emphasized as much as black-
and-white battle results.

And in later episodes, like
“Independence & Catastrophe,”
about the birth of modern-day
Israel, archival videos and stills
Courtesy of CNN
are wielded to bring figures
like Ben-Gurion and Meir
to life.

“We wanted to tell the facts
as they happened,” Rosenblum
said. “And there’s no better
partner to do that with than
CNN.” By combining cinematic,
academic and journalistic
qualities, “Jerusalem” shows
that, even as history repeats
itself, it’s a scintillating and
riveting ride. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM