The deadly October 2018 shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue was horrifying – the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. The way the community rallied afterward was heartening. But although the attack remained international news for weeks, filmmaker Trish Adlesic says there’s still more of this story to tell.
Adlesic is a Pittsburgh native whose father still lived here at the time of the shooting. Afterward, she immediately decided to temporarily move back from New York, and then with film crew in tow spent three years immersing herself in the community of survivors and victims’ families. The result is “A Tree of Life,” a feature-length documentary that premieres Wed., Oct. 26, on HBO.
“I thought to myself, ‘How can I respond?’” said Adlesic, in a recent phone interview.
The film has some big names attached. Its executive producers include famed local natives Billy Porter, Michael Keaton and Mark Cuban, and the credits roll over an original song sung by Broadway star Idina Menzel. But Adlesic’s focus is firmly on the ground that radiates from the corner of Shady and Wilkins, in Squirrel Hill, and those who populate it.
Rather than hunting for sound bites, Adlesic used her contacts to make personal connections. Through two films she’d previously produced in the region, the fracking documentaries “Gasland” (2010) and “Gasland II” (2013), she knew local activist Doug Shields, who put her in touch with shooting survivor Audrey Glickman. Together, they crafted a list of questions Adlesic would ask all the interviewees.
And, Adlesic said, she never cold-called anyone. All her interviewees were contacted after being referred by other survivors or family members. “It came organically through each experience that the participants had and who they thought I should talk with,” she said.
“A Tree of Life” includes interviews with more than a dozen such folks, from attack survivors like Glickman, Joe Charny, and Dan Leger to family members of victims, including Michele Rosenthal – whose brothers, David and Cecil, were slain – and Audrey Mallinger, whose 97-year-old mother, Rose, was among the victims.
The details of the attack remain chilling. Glickman recounts how, after the shooting began that day, she and Charny hid in a closet full of donated clothing, desperately hoping to camouflage themselves among the bundles. Stephen Weiss recalls the sight of the brass shell casings from the assailant’s semi-automatic rifle bouncing on the synagogue floor.
Adlesic also takes time in the film to sketch America’s rising tide of white nationalism and antisemitism that framed the attack (which took place 14 months after the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., where white supremacists chanted “Jews will not replace us”). She notes the controversy over then-President Trump’s visit to a Tree of Life memorial, which was protested by critics who noted Trump’s rhetoric and policies that emboldened white supremacists. The film even ventures to an active-shooter-response training session, and depicts the divide within the community over whether the assailant should face the death penalty.
Nonetheless, the last movement of this 80-minute documentary explores how Jewish culture encourages survivors and family members to honor the memories of the victims with “mitzvah,” or good deeds. The concept is perhaps best expressed by the literal “call” of the shofar (or ceremonial ram's horn) Glickman is repeatedly seen blowing throughout the film – including with the Philadelphia Orchestra, where she accompanied a work commissioned to commemorate the victims.
“Right after the shooting happened, my first inclination was to stand up and shout about it,” Glickman said in an interview. “I wanted to keep saying, ‘Look here, we can’t live like this,’ and that’s what a shofar does, is proclaim!”
Glickman praised Adlesic’s approach to the film. “Working with her has made it feel like we were really telling our story and putting forth a step towards the future, a step toward doing something with what happened to us,” she said.
As Anthony Fienberg, whose mother, Joyce, was among the 11 victims, says in the film, “You need to think about the values for which the victims stood, the lives that they lived -- the lives were about the positive part and how we can change other people’s lives in a positive manner, because that, in particular, is what our mother would have wanted as a legacy.”
“This is really the in-depth conversation of what happened and what we can be doing to address these issues moving forward,” said Adlesic. “We have to try to come to the table with people that have different opinions, and try to express them....When we share a lens into the life of others, it provides an opportunity for understanding.”
