PUBLISHED August 30th, 2012 08:03 am | UPDATED July 25th, 2024 02:46 pm
Despite its small size and a population that’s barely larger than Singapore’s, Israel’s film industry has slowly but surely (and well-deservedly) taken its place amongst the greats in the ever-evolving film industry.
The fact that an Israeli film has been a ‘best foreign’ film finalist at the Oscars four out of the past five years should go some way to prove this.
Despite what many would guess, Israeli films are seldom political or religious in plot. For a country surrounded by enemies and that adopts its own National Service for both men AND women, Israeli films are much more localized in theme – overcoming difficulties and hardships are common, littered with poignant references to the subtle nuances of daily life in the land of milk and honey…
One Israeli friend of mine explained it to me like this: Israeli films are all about passion, the ups and downs…the celebration of being alive. Every Israeli; man and woman spends time in the army and whilst most of the time it’s safe, you never know when the shit’s gonna to hit the fan. Israel is a melting pot of cultures, secular and Hassidic Jews, Christian and Muslim Arabs, Bedouins, Ethiopians..people from all over the world, and each has it’s own subculture in Israeli society. Watching Israeli films gives an outsider a window to look on and see what daily life in like in Israel, both the good and the bad.
Next week sees the 20th Annual Israeli Film Festival in Singapore, so we, over at City Nomads thought we’d give a little round-up of some of our top picks:
Foot Note – (Trailer viewable here) –
By award-winning director Joseph Cedar, this traces the tragicomic tale of rival father-and-son Jewish scholars in the Talmud department of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the film has bagged multiple awards including Best Screenplay at Cannes. The plot is simple. A prestigious award, intended for one scholar, is mistakenly bestowed on another. Trouble ensues. Cedar has crafted a piercing satire, a poignant family drama and an investigation of the competing claims of honesty, loyalty, ambition and love.
Intimate Grammar – (Trailer viewable here)
“Intimate Grammar” is a sensitive study of an inner journey rich in detailed observation.
A dysfunctional family and delayed puberty make life miserable for a pre-adolescent growing up in Jerusalem in the 1960’s. The film, an adaptation of David Grossman’s “The Book of Intimate Grammar”, shows our hero, Aharon Kleinfeld, striving to survive his domineering mother, his anti-intellectual father and his own diminutive stature in a setting of a lower-middle-class housing development where gossip is rampant and appearances are all important.
Jellyfish – (Trailer viewable here)
Meduzot (Jellyfish) tells the story of three very different Israeli women living in Tel Aviv whose intersecting stories weave an unlikely portrait of modern Israeli life. Batya, a catering waitress, takes in a young child apparently abandoned at a local beach. Batya is one of the servers at the wedding reception of Keren, a young bride who breaks her leg in trying to escape from a locked toilet stall, which ruins her chance at a romantic honeymoon in the Caribbean. One of the guests is Joy, a Philippine chore woman attending the event with her employer, and who doesn’t speak any Hebrew (she communicates mainly in English), and who is guilt-ridden after having left her young son behind in the Philippines.
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For those of you who’ve had the pleasure of watching some of Israel’s cinematic exposes before, I already know I’m preaching to the choir. And for you film-buffs out there looking for something ‘oh so’ different from the usual Hollywood show, check out one of two of the films showing next week and be taken on an inspiring journey through the beautiful triumphs and failures of the human soul.
Written by The City Nomad