Rotem (Zissman) and Moris Cohen are among Israel's most respected actors. For a while-- until she got married, turned somewhat more pious, and semi-retired from acting-- it seemed that Rotem was in all the best Israeli movies; and she received several award nominations. Moris is typecast as a tough guy-- sometimes with a heart of gold, sometimes without-- but he nonetheless managed to pick up Israel's Best Actor award several years ago. However, they didn't put themselves on screen in this documentary. What they present is a slice of life-- or more accurately, several small slices-- depicting the Israeli Border Police on the job in Jerusalem. The Border Police do more than police the border. They try to reduce friction between segments of the population, and in Jerusalem the segments are, of course, varied and packed together. The movie makes the point that even among the Border Police themselves, there are Muslims and Christians as well as Jews; and we see that keeping the peace involves reining in Muslim and Jewish extremists alike. In its enthusiastic promotion of brotherhood, the film claims that the very Jerusalem streets we see may well be where King David, Jesus, and Muhammad walked. No points for that well-intentioned remark, I'm afraid. Historians say Muhammad never came near Jerusalem. Muslims say he arrived from Arabia in the dead of night on a winged steed and immediately jumped to heaven and back. No time for roaming the streets or stopping for knafeh.
Anyway, if Providence had been interested in the creation of a gripping film, and less interested in the citizens' welfare, the camera might have caught a great photogenic confrontation with our Border Police figures in the middle of it. As is, the film has no such climactic moment. It does have picturesque shots of the city and of its people, and it has a tension as the Border Police confront potential violence; but nothing gets out of hand. In order to insert at least some exciting action, the Cohens include film that comes from outside the timeframe of their own shoot. When the end came and the credits rolled, my wife said, "Is that it? Is it over?" Despite some verbal summing-up, the end was indeed sort of sudden. But the content is good, and it's put together well. You come out of the film with some knowledge and appreciation of what the Border Police have taken upon themselves.
Anyway, if Providence had been interested in the creation of a gripping film, and less interested in the citizens' welfare, the camera might have caught a great photogenic confrontation with our Border Police figures in the middle of it. As is, the film has no such climactic moment. It does have picturesque shots of the city and of its people, and it has a tension as the Border Police confront potential violence; but nothing gets out of hand. In order to insert at least some exciting action, the Cohens include film that comes from outside the timeframe of their own shoot. When the end came and the credits rolled, my wife said, "Is that it? Is it over?" Despite some verbal summing-up, the end was indeed sort of sudden. But the content is good, and it's put together well. You come out of the film with some knowledge and appreciation of what the Border Police have taken upon themselves.