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Reviews
Ke'Ilu Klum Lo Kara (1999)
The family as a microcosm for Israeli society under strain
This movie is a little different, for it draws the audience's attention to the meltdown in a family, which represents the Israeli society, when there is a terrorist bombing and Israeli soldiers are killed in it. The story centers around a family that fears their son, who is a soldier, has been killed in a terrorist attack. It does not deal with politics. It shows the strains and stresses that occur in an average family, faced losing their son. It's ending brings tears to one's eyes. However, it teaches something about living with terrorism. It is dramatic, and realistic. (The movie is in Hebrew, so if you are not willing to read subtitles, don't watch it.)
Moto Shel Yehudi (1969)
If you can find a copy, definitely watch this film
This movie is a bit dated, but I absolutely love the theme:a budding pseudo-adoptive father-son relationship between an Arab and an Israeli. While the character Assaf Dayan plays is perhaps not well enough developed, Akim Tamiroff, who plays the police chief, the other main character, is simply spectacular. The idea of finding loving human connections between people, who are each members of groups that are bitter enemies, is truly wonderful. I loved this film. I saw this film 20 years ago, and it still moves me. It reminds me of another lesser-known film entitled "A Majority of One," starring Alec Guiness and Rosalind Russell, a story that focuses on the attempt to bridge the gap between a Jewish American woman, who lost her son fighting the Japanese during WWII, and a Japanese official, who lost a daughter to the bombing of Hiroshima. Movies like these bring hope in the world.
Knafayim Shvurot (2002)
A movie with real heart
Maybe I just like watching sappy movies, but "Broken Wings" contains the universal theme of the difficult struggle to continue living after a devastating blow. This movie shows how the wife and four children of a man, who died of an allergic reaction to a bee, try to continue to live, when all they want to do is sleep, fall into comas, and die. Israel certainly has enough stories of grief and despair to tell, but like the country itself, this movie focuses on the underlying message of the beautiful fight for survival. I like the fact that the film is set in Haifa, a city that is relatively free of political and religious extremism and strife; it makes the film more universal. Maya Maron, one of the lead characters, brings a luminous freshness to this film, which is poignant, full of heart, yet gritty. The symbolism of an angel's broken wing ties into the actions of all the characters as well as the setting, a hospital, and the haunting melody and mournful lyrics of the songs. So many Israelis criticize films from their country, but this one is beautiful!
Before Sunset (2004)
Praise of the film and discussion of some reasons why it works so well
"Before Sunset" is one of the most exquisite romantic modern films I have ever seen. It is reminiscent of the following two movies: Claude Lelouch's "Un homme et une femme" ("A Man and a Woman" 1966) and Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Trois couleurs: Rouge" ("Red") in that it is a magnificent study of the inner workings of a relationship between two people who meet accidentally: a man and a woman. But their ages, nationalities, and successes (things often used to classify people) are not why the characters in these movies connect. These films are brief glimpses of details that make relationships so intense and so special. The backdrop of Paris adds a lushness to the film's beauty, and it is a comment on the themes of movement, transience, and touring or visiting a place as opposed to living there and it becoming fabric in one's day-to-day "real life." At first viewing, the conversation between the two characters feels so natural, making it surprising to learn that there is no adlib in this film. However, at second viewing, (We stayed for the very next showing of the film!) the brilliance of the construction of the conversation became obvious. Every word is fraught with risk and meaning, even in the beginning of the movie, as the characters talk around the subject of their relationship so masterfully, while using it as every referential point in their dialogue.
The themes in their conversation have a universality to them, and the connection between the characters makes the viewer forget that there is a clash of cultures, for she is French while he is American. The film manages to isolate bits and pieces of what it is that truly connects two strangers - soul mates in a once or twice opportunity in a lifetime.
The ending of this film is nothing short of breathtaking. It makes me think of the Woody Allen film "The Purple Rose of Cairo" in that the viewer is tempted to leave his/her seat and walk into the movie itself. For, this movie portrays a world where the possibility of returning to pivotal people in our pasts and revisiting the most important moments in time, where our lives irrevocably change is possible.
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Richard Linklater are brilliant.