Mr. Mani

'Every thought has a pocket – and in that pocket – another thought…' (Avraham Mani) The five part TV series 'Mr. Mani' – based on A. B. Yehoshua´s acclaimed book – is a family saga dealing with a fictitious family throughout five generations. On the face of it, it is similar to other such sagas in its scope, in the amazing variations of human destinies and in the fact that the single family represents much more than itself. But it is also very different. It is an experiment in the medium of television drama. First it goes back in time, from 1982 until 1848 (and each TV episode scans all periods). Secondly, it is spoken in five languages. Thirdly, and most important of all, it is an attempt to search for another kind of television discourse. This demands more self-awareness from the viewers but strives to offer them an intimacy of a new kind. The story of the Mani family is told by five witnesses who had most shattering experiences with members of the Mani family at five different places and in points of time. But these witnesses are not delivering monologues. They converse with certain people whose faces are not seen and whose voices are not heard but their reactions can be guessed. The actors who play the role of witnesses relate to the camera; in other words – the viewer himself is asked to become a major character in the drama. The conversations are as follows: 1. '1982 – A Kibbutz in Israel' Hagar, a student, talks to her mother, (in Hebrew). Hagar tells her mother about her love affair with Effi Mani and of her traumatic experience with Effi´s father – who constantly seems to attempt suicide. 2. '1944 – The Island of Crete' Egon, a German soldier, tells his visiting grandmother (in German) what has happened to him since the island had been occupied, and of his meeting with the Mani family, shattering Ego´s view of the world. 3. '1918 – Jerusalem, Palestine' (recently occupied by the British) Ivor, a British military prosecutor, talks (in English) to a military judge. He tells about a certain Mr. Mani who is about to stand trial on the charge of high treason. 4. '1899 – Oswiencim, Poland) Efrayim, a doctor, and his sister Linka have just returned from a traumatic visit to Basel and Jerusalem. They had met a certain Dr. Moshe Mani who committed suicide before their eyes. Effrayim talks to his father (in Yiddish, a Western Europe Jewish dialect). 5. '1848 – Athens, Greece' Avraham Mani, father of a dynasty, has just returned from a sinister voyage to Jerusalem, where his son Yosef had been slaughtered. Avraham talks (in Ladino, a Spanish-Jewish dialect) to two people: his Rabbi, who had just had a stroke and is paralyzed, and the Rabbi´s wife. Throughout the series, the connection between the very different stories is gradually illuminated. The last chapter of the last episode unveils the horrific double sin which haunts the Mani family throughout history. The descendants – crazed by their search for identity – play games with history, and death, as if they were children´s toys. Orphans in desperate search of their father.