Hamdi & Maria (short)
Rating: Outstanding
Documentary — Israel — Subtitled
This emotional short documentary work examines the efforts of Hamdi, a Palestinian father, to care for his quadriplegic daughter Maria. The car they had been riding in had suffered collateral damage in an Israeli missile attack on a vehicle ahead of them, occupied by armed terrorists. The wife and mother of the two was killed, and the very young daughter must learn to adjust to life in a wheelchair and high-tech medical support. What is remarkable here is the outpouring of expressions of support by ordinary Israelis, and the lack of overt hostility by Hamdi as he spends nearly all of his time by his daughter’s side at the hospital, helping her with the constant care she will probably require for the rest of her life. This unusual, powerful profile reduces the complex Middle Eastern conflict down to simple human terms: the lifelong effects of the bloodshed on a beautiful young child, along with the senselessness of this violent conflict, without a resolution in sight.
A Secret
Rating: Excellent
France — Subtitled
This well-crafted drama is the story of a young man’s discovery of a family secret. It is told back and forth through time as the boy grows and the secret begins to be revealed. We are shown time-frames ranging from post-war France, where we first meet Francois as a child, to the mid-1980s where he is dealing with his aging parents, and then back to the pre-war and occupation periods, before he was born, where the lives of his parents and a sibling he never knew are explored.
A Secret never delves fully into many facets of these characters’ lives, including an apparent but unexplained conversion to Catholicism by the family after the war years. Nevertheless, this is a very well-produced and performed story that captures the richness of the lives of the characters as well as the time period in pre-war France with such beauty and realism, that it almost makes the Nazis’ reign of genocide seem unfathomable. However, the plot really focuses on the human fallibility of Francois’s parents — along with his father’s previous wife — and how human emotions impacted their decisions, which had life or death consequences during the occupation.
The Wave
Rating: Very Good
Germany — Subtitled
In April, 1967, Ron Jones was teaching a sophomore history class at a Palo Alto, Calif. high school on Nazi Germany. Jones was unable to explain to his students why ordinary Germans so easily participated in the Nazi movement, so he decided to begin an experiment. He concocted a group called “The Third Wave.” In just four days, this simple project expanded and the students so readily accepted the ideology and symbolism of this fantasy Fascist movement that he had to end it by day five.
The film is a fictional account of this actual event set instead in contemporary Germany, and while it holds fairly close to the real event in portraying a teacher leading an experiment, and the impact on his students, the fictionalized version ends quite differently that what transpired in real life.
Nonetheless, it is a remarkably realistic production which shows the transition of The Wave through the five days of the school week, and the dynamics of how easily impressionable students were sucked into the mock movement and accepted the dogma and direction of their leader.
It is an interesting examination of the basic tenets and lure of fascist ideology.
Strangers
Rating: Good
Israel — Subtitled
An Israeli soccer fan named Eyal arrives in Berlin to attend the Berlin World Cup tournament. While on the subway, he inadvertently swaps identical backpacks with Rana, an attractive female tourist from Paris. They soon discover their common mistake and make plans by cell phone to re-exchange bags. Once they meet, they end up hanging out and soon romance blossoms with a mutual interest in soccer as the backdrop.
After a short, intense affair, Rana leaves rather suddenly to return to Paris, but not before warning Eyal not to call her or try to contact her. Of course he is enthralled by her, and ends up traveling to France in hopes of seeing her again. It is here where we learn that Rana is involved in politics and surrounded by other Palestinian defenders, but things are even more complex, as she is living in France illegally, and has a young child who suffers from asthma.
When she finds herself in police custody after taking her sick boy to the hospital, she finds no one to turn to for help — except Eyal. Making the story even more complicated is the addition of the recent Israeli war in Lebanon as part of the plot, and Eyal being called up to return to Israel for military service. Will he leave the woman he followed and loves to return to his country?
Upcoming SIFF Films of Jewish Interest:
Female Agents — France (Subtitled)
Friday June 13 — 6:30 p.m. — Cinerama
Sunday June 15 — 3 p.m. — Cinerama
Fugitive Pieces — Canada
Sat., June 14 — 6:30 p.m. — Pacific Place
Sun., June 15 — 1:15 p.m. — Pacific Place
Read a full review of Fugitive Pieces online at www.jtnews.net.
Villa Jasmin — Tunisia (Subtitled)
Wed., June 11 — 9 p.m. — Egyptian Theatre
Sun., June 15 — 9:30 p.m. — Harvard Exit