It's been an interesting experience not only because of the movies themselves, which have been both touching and illuminating, but also because going alone to see a "weird movie" in an almost empty theater (Bologna's Cineteca) is not something I usually do.
In any case, even if I missed two or three movies that seemed promising, I still could see four pieces that I would like to recommend to you. All of them have won awards in prestigious festivals. This could be a useless suggestion, though: the movies are very recent and some of them seem to be quite "underground" which makes it difficult to find in dvd or in the torrents of information the net provides. The movies are:
- My father, my lord. The movie is focused on the family of an ultra-orthodox rabbi, his wife and only son. It portrays very well the rigid and somehow mysterious/traditional atmosphere such orthodox communities have nowadays. It is a short movie (around 75 min) that conveys a touching story on the relation of this rabbi and a tragedy concerning his 5- or 6-year old kid. I enjoyed the music a lot. It's one of the saddest things I have seen in a while.
- Sweet Mud. The life of a 12-year old kid in a kibbutz, in the mid seventies, is portrayed in a simple and peculiar way. The movie spans the year before the kid's bar mitzvah, and reflects though decisions he mas to made regarding his mentally affected mother and the whole kibbutz community. The photography is simply AMAZING; I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw certain Israeli landscapes. The music is also fantastic; rightly placed comic sequences give the story a great rhythm.
- Jellyfishes. 5-word description: stories of women in Tel-Aviv. The life of four or five female main characters is portrayed in a very clever way. There is the girl who just broke up with the boyfriend and works as waitress in wedding parties; the girl who just got married has a crappy honeymoon; the photographer who's looking for something else in her life; the Phillipine immigrant that has to leave her son back home and do her best taking take of elderlies; the mysterious little girl who comes from the sea. The simplicity of the stories, the subtle way these stories touch each other, and, above all, the fact that simplicity can be interesting if told in the proper way, is what gets you in your chair with no complaints.
- Souvenirs What started as a project of a documentary on the Jewish brigades that fought in the WWII, slowly evolves to the story in which the director of the film rediscovers his father, a former driver of the brigade. After a meeting of the remaining members of the brigade, the director learned that he might have a stepbrother in the Netherlands, a "souvenir" his father could have left to some grateful young lady in Eindhoven. They then start a trip to Europe, tracing back the steps of both the brigade in Italy and of the "souvenir". It turns out that the brigade was decisive in defeating the Nazi troops here in Emilia-Romagna! In fact, they visit the monument the Comune of Riolo Terme (Ravenna) dedicated to the brigade; seeing the tears of joy the former driver has kept with him for 60 years is one of the most touching moments of the film. The nostalgic trip continues in the Netherlands, where the director and his father find the answers they were looking for.
I want to conclude pointing out that the selection of movies was simply great; they certainly make you question yourself on your ideas on Israel and the Jewish culture. In the very worst case, you end up throwing away a bunch of misconceptions. The easiest criterion for selection could have been the war and the conflict. Instead, the movies I saw reflect a very diverse society that fights to remain faithful to their traditions in the modern times.
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