Residents of north Jerusalem neighborhoods have been subject to booming explosions, but there has not been reason to worry: The explosions were produced for the filming of a docudrama recreating the Battle of Ammunition Hill in the Six-Day War.
The film, produced by the US-based Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) and directed by Erin Zimmerman, tells the story of the Paratroopers’ 55th Brigade’s fight in the bloody battle that led to their seizing the Western Wall.
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Scenes from the film
The recreation is extremely accurate, down to the smallest details, from the period IDF and Jordanian Arab Legion uniforms to the weapons that they carry. Researching the film including interviewing paratroopers from the war. A large portion of the scenes were filmed at the actual battle sites that they depict, such as the Rockefeller Museum, the Mount of Olives, the Old City’s Nablus Road (nicknamed “Death Alley”), and the Tower of David Museum.
Zimmerman said about the film, “We wanted to make a special project for the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War, but not a dry documentary. So we thought of talking with the soldiers themselves, hearing their stories and portraying their personal take on the events. We got great material that we wouldn’t have found in the archives.”
Rami Baruch stars as Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan, Sharon Friedman as Paratrooper Brigade Commander Mordechai Gur, and Yehoyachin Friedlander portrays IDF Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren Alongside professional actors, the film’s extras were drawn from the ranks of recently discharged special forces units such as Maglan, Oketz and Duvdevan.
Yoram Zamush is a veteran of the Six-Day War, and he welcomed the project. His personal story features in the film: When the Paratroopers were preparing to set out for the Old City, an elderly woman came up to him and told him that she had lived in the Jewish Quarter until the Jordanians took it in 1948. She gave to Zamush an Israeli flag that she had taken then from the quarter and asked him to fly it on the Western Wall if they managed to retake it, which Zamush faithfully did.
Said Zamush of the docudrama, “Retelling the events of the war is reliving it in the consciousness of world Jewry.”
