By Jessica Davis, JTNews Correspondent
Set in Israel, Eitan Gorlin’s new controversial movie The Holy Land follows young rabbinical student Menachem “Mendy” Weinbaum, who is distracted by thoughts of sex .
Quoting an obscure passage from the Talmud, a rabbi advises Mendy to visit a prostitute to “get it out of his system.”
Mendy heads for Jerusalem, where he meets Sasha, a Russian-born prostitute and Mike, an ex-war photographer from America. Mike acts as a mentor to Mendy, hiring the boy to work in his bar, Mike’s Place, where Jews and Arabs drink side by side.
While fictionalized, The Holy Land and its views of Israeli society are drawn from writer/director Gorlin’s personal experiences of being raised in an Orthodox home, studying at a Zionist yeshiva in Israel, serving in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“There’s something in each character that I could feel,” says Gorlin. “It was a very defining experience for me.”
Gorlin says his film portrays the “underbelly of real life in Jerusalem.” The film explores how many lines an individual can cross — stepping away from one’s values, beliefs or behavior patterns — before there is no going back.
The film, with prostitution, drug use, Arab collaborators and ample nudity, has been rejected from several Jewish film festivals including one in Jerusalem. However, it also won top honors at the 2002 Slamdance Film Festival in Utah and at the Avignon/New York Film Festival.
The Holy Land is currently screening at Landmark’s Harvard Exit Theater in Seattle. For more information, visit www.theholylandmovie.com.