Born into a Sephardi Jewish family in Salonika (now Thessaloniki), Greece, in 1908, Wilson was forced into an arranged marriage, with her ferocious temperament at the forefront even then. Having escaped the clutches of unconsensual matrimony, she then avoided Auschwitz by boarding the last boat to America out of Greece before the onset of World War II. This first part of Wilson’s story is a poignant and rare glimpse of the Greek perspective of the Holocaust.
Objective for the most part and slickly edited, Queen of the Deuce is a fascinating account of one woman’s search for a new life in the Big Apple – a life interwoven with the rise of feminism, sexual revolution and gay pride. It may not fit the archetypal American Dream of old, but it’s certainly one that we can all get on board with today.
By Tom McGhie
Queen of the Deuce is screening as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival online until Monday 27 November. Films are available to watch for 72 hours after purchase. ukjewishfilm.org
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