The Real Shlemiel (1995)

An animated musical feature based on four of Singer’s tales for children, The Real Schlemiel is set in the shtetl of Chelm. When God distributed wiseness and foolishness through a newly created world, one of the cherubs accidentally dropped all the foolishness on this tiny village.

Nov 19. 2pm

Classic Cinemas, Elsternwick

An animated musical feature based on four of Singer’s tales for children, The Real Schlemiel is set in the folklorically famous shtetl of Chelm. In this community of lovable fools, a courageous boy hero (a clever newcomer on a goat) saves the world from an evil sorcerer, after a golem fashioned by the sorcerer has followed destructive orders from its master.

The film defies categorisation. There are echoes of Hitler and pogroms, and even, probably unintentionally, the ravages of climate change – ‘Chelm 2’ is like the virtual islands that carry on after the originals are inundated. Is the cartoon a Fiddler on the Roof for children? For heedless optimists, for tragedy-soaked pessimists, or for lovers of Hollywood musicals and superheroes?