Libia: l'ultimo esodo (2017)

"Libya, the last exodus" is a documentary directed by Ruggero Gabbai, portraying the life of the thriving Jewish community in Libya and in its capital, Tripoli. Starting from the period of the Italian colonization and passing through a series of foreign dominations, the movie depicts the life of the Libyan Jews, a life of cohabitation with the Arabs, a difficult coexistence often interrupted by outburst of rage and hatred towards the Jewish community during the Postwar period until the rise of Gheddafi. The community was heterogeneous and the Libyan Jews, who had been living in the country for centuries, were completely assimilated with the local population and lived in the historical neighborhood named Hara, were joined with the time by Jews coming from all over the Mediterranean area. The multicultural environment received a strong boost in the '50s, with the discovery of the oilfield in the country which brought an increasing wealth in the country. Thanks to the voices of our witnesses the story unveils until the tragic development/events of 1967 when, with the spreading of the panarabic ideology combined with the outcome of the Six-day war and a growing anti-semitism, the Jews are once again the target of violent riots. The situation forces the Libyan Jewish community to leave the country and never come back. The protagonists of the story, most of them now living in Italy and Israel, recall their Libyan life expressing deep and mixed feelings: melancholy, sadness, longing.