The Nanda Devi, a mountain located within the Himalayan mountain range, is the second highest mountain in India, standing at roughly 3,300 meters above its base. While most people who attempt to climb the Himalayas are seasoned hikers with years of experience, in 2013, a group of 20 Israelis, specifically those with Down syndrome and their siblings, successfully summited Nanda Devi.
The documentary “My Hero Brother,” which was directed by Yonatan Nir and released on July 11, 2016, centers around this group of 20 Israeli young adults who work together through hardships and challenges to climb the mountain range. The film, which earned the award for Best Documentary at the Palm Beach and Santa Barbara Festival among other awards, was brought to JDS and screened for Yom HaAtzmaut on Wednesday, April 22.
Hebrew teacher Anat Kaufman arranged for the movie to be shown and for director Yonatan Nir to be part of a Q&A section with the high school students. Kaufman says she knew she had to show the movie to the students because of its inspiring message and moving storyline, conveying the beauty of the people of Israel.
“I want everyone to enjoy [the film], because in my role, I’m the Israel engagement coordinator, I try to show the beauty of Israel,” Kaufman said. “Not politics, but the beauty of Israel by food, fashion, music, cinema, technology and agriculture.”
The hiking group was contacted by a team who eventually reached out to Nir, asking him to come with them and film a documentary of their experiences during this journey. Nir, an award-winning director, agreed to adventure with them, saying he was incredibly inspired by the brothers who reached out to him, hoping to get their siblings with Down syndrome to experience new challenges.
“When I met them, I was totally inspired by their courage to do something that nobody even believed that is possible, and with so many risks,” Nir said, “But they were just like, ‘no, we’re going to do that, because it’s important for us to to get closer to our brothers, to get closer to each other,’ and I thought it was really inspiring.”
Nir also said that while in some ways, the film was uniquely challenging to make because of the difficulties and medical complexities around doing this journey with people with Down syndrome. However, in other ways, according to Nir, it was just like filming any other documentary because documenting real life is full of “uncertainty.” He believes that creating this documentary opened his eyes to the messages he can convey through the stories of people.
For junior Na’ama Cohen, watching the film on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day,, gave the movie more meaning. She explained that screening this movie about people with Down syndrome learning to gain independence and succeed in challenges felt very fitting to her.
“‘Atzmaut means independence, and I think this movie entirely embodies that,” Cohen said. “The entire journey to India was in an effort to help these people with Down syndrome feel like they had more control of their life, and what they got out of it was this independence that they had never felt like they could exert before. And so I think just as today, Israel gained its independence, so too did these people with Down syndrome gain theirs.”
