“Ahead of Time” a fascinating documentary on Ruth Gruber

By Ron Gilbert

Ruth Gruber was really ahead of her time.”
I am experiencing that feeling of zest which goes with exploration. I am in the
thick of an historic moment” were the first lines she dispatched from the
Soviet Artic in 1935.

I felt exactly like that as I watched it. This special documentary which
had its LA Premiere at the LA Jewish Film Festival was presented with the help
and association with the Museum of Tolerance and Women In Film. . Here
was this 98 year (She will be 99 when this article is posted) female journalist
share her experiences on her early days in these historical moments of her
career. She has this  vitality and  sense of humor which would  allow her to team up with  88 year old actress Betty White on Saturday
Night Live when she is 100 years old. Ruth was born the same year (1911) as my
mom, who is no longer with us, and seemed to express herself in a way that
touched my heart and also my mind.

Gruber's on-screen voice is heard throughout this film as
she described her globetrotting career. First as a teen in 1920s New
York, she possessed a love of Virginia
Woolf's views and also had a strong desire for German culture and language. As
a student she lived in Cologne and
observed the rise of Hitler firsthand.

Cinematographer Bob Richman's
directorial debut is a portrait of an extraordinary woman whose life is an engrossing
story of proto-feminist achievement and humbling empathy.

Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth Gruber became the youngest PhD in the world
before going on to become an international foreign correspondent and
photojournalist at age 24. She emerged as the eyes and conscience of the world.
With her love of adventure, fearlessness and powerful intellect, Ruth defied
tradition in an extraordinary career that has spanned more than seven decades.

 In this documentary we follow her career as the
first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic in 1935 who also traveled to Alaska as a member of the Roosevelt administration and in 1942, she escorted Holocaust refugees
to America in 1944.Then she covered the Nuremberg trials in 1946 and documented the Haganah ship Exodus in
1947. That harrowing journey shows in detail the British government’s reaction
which I was not aware of. Her relationships with world leaders including
Eleanor Roosevelt, President Harry Truman, and David Ben Gurion gave her unique
access and insight into the modern history of the Jewish people.
Ruth is truly an inspiration for her ground-breaking
career which is reflected in the film which interweaves verite scenes with
never-seen-before archival footage.

This is a film for all ages and is
currently at the Laemmle theaters in Beverly Hills and Encino and should not be missed. After that read her
books and hopefully we will see her at the Oscars. Next year. I leave you with
her words” There will be peace someday “

http://www.ruthgruberthemovie.com/