Brooding and bearded face shadowed by an odd hat, cutlass scars on his arms and a dark patch where his eye ought to be. The pirate is a familiar stereotype. Countless movies have worn him down to a smooth and unremarkable cliche.
But what if that cliche has depths that have yet to be mined by the movie industry?
That is the question that Israeli-American director Arnon Z. Shorr (Blood and Stone: A Legend of the Golem, A Modest Suggestion, Glimpse) has chosen to tap into with the Pirate Captain Toledano. Beneath the pirate's hat hides another sort of hat. A Jewish one. For the Pirate Captain Toledano is a Jewish pirate. What sort of Jew becomes a pirate and why?
Touching on true history, that is one of the questions that Shorr's film proposes to answer.
Recent years have seen growing interest in the history of Jewish pirates. And what initially seems absurd quickly becomes a fascinating exploration of how much of history is lost when legend becomes cliche. As a pioneering filmmaker, Arnon Z. Shorr has chosen to tackle this ambitious project with the aid of two vessels at the Ocean Institute, a dedicated cast and support from the public.
Though the process of bringing the Pirate Captain Toledano from vision to reality has only begun, the journey has already been marked by fortuitous coincidences, including the discovery that cast member Stephen DeCordova (Captain Toledano) hailed from ancestors who were Jewish pirates and a treasured Kiddush cup in his possession, which likely dates back from those days, will play a key role in the story.
Like the ocean, history has unseen depths and strange currents that can only be glimpsed from the right angle. Arnon Z. Shorr is currently laboring to bring up a lost piece of history from the deeps.
Anyone interested in supporting his project can find more information at the Jewcer crowdfunding site for the film.