Yippee

Directed by Paul Mazursky

Yippee is a documentary film directed by and starring American actor and director Paul Mazursky. In this film, for reasons which he cannot explain, Mazursky decides to travel to Uman in the Ukraine in order to document the yearly Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage of tens of thousands of hassidic Jews to the grave of Rabbi Nahman of Breslov (MeUman). The film provides an interesting insight of the world of the Breslov hassids and their rituals. 

      The unfortunate fallback of the film is the lack of documentation of the music and prayers which accompany the festive holiday. In many scenes, singing and dancing can be seen and heard, but are cut off very quickly so that full songs are never portrayed, only fragments. The culmination of the film arrives at the end when the viewers are exposed to the mass prayer at the lake in Uman where 25,000 men gather to pray and dance. Unfortunately, here as well, the sonorous aspect of the scene is mostly lost because of the use of extra-diegetic music that almost completely covers the prayers. Towards the end of the scene some of the singing and chanting can be heard. Throughout the film, the songs that are performed in the streets of Uman are: Rosh Hashana Uman, Rabbi Nahman Ein Kamocka B'Olam, and disco versions of songs that praise Rabbi Nahman.

Additionally these songs are featured on the soundtrack:

Sophie Solomon – Holy Devil

Shmuel Levy- Woven, Ani Maamin, and Mi Yaale

Giora Fiedman - Rivkele di shabesdike 

The Film's Trailer: