Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE JUMP [Nantucket Film Festival 2021 - Virtual]
A story of the aftermath of the Cold War 50 years after is an intriguing progression of perspective. In "The Jump" [Documentary Features], people again learn the story of Simas Kudirka who tried to jump from a Soviet ship to an American Coast Guard cutter off of Martha's Vineyard in attempt to seek asylum. The two ships were there in international waters for a fisheries meeting in the depths of the Cold War in 1970. The story was told in a tv movie starring Alan Akin in the late 1970s. While the story itself is interesting and ultimately coincidental in a good way, what is interesting is seeing Kudirka on the Variant (the actual Coast Guard cutter from 1970) at night (when they were allowed to shoot) and revisiting the spaces he occupied as a 80 year old man but reliving those moments from when he was 30. It is an interesting way to reflect history. The people on the American side who were involved in the incident on the boat are also interviewed at home. It is a dissertation of decision-making that can have real repercussions down the line.
Kudirka's journey after that and ultimate resolution is the stuff of movies but simply the luck of the draw (as he himself says) in terms of his eventual pursuit to do similar what others had done for him. The ladies of Lithuanian decent in the US (many of them stay-at-home mothers led the cause through various congressmen). Sudirka also returns to the prison he was interred. Perhaps the most interesting revelation comes at the end of the film because of what fuels his idea of home, what freedom means and how roots reflect. Watching him watch himself being played on the TV movie, reuniting with his wife (now passed) and knowing the irony but understanding time brings reflection and almost regret in his eyes. It is an ironic reading. Many questions are left unanswered but (like many documentaries), a simple snapshot is sometimes better than expounding every little nook and cranny. Kudirka's positivity for the most part reigns supreme but you can see moments of sorrow and tears ring through which gives the documentary its power. B+
By Tim Wassberg
