Turn Left At The End Of The World
Hebrew, ENG & RUS Subtitles
The setting is the late sixties, in a tiny, isolated Israeli village. Two immigrant families, one from Morocco and the other from India become neighbors. They share nothing but a dream. As they are forced to live together, the two wary communities attempt to build a sense of identity. In order to assert their imperial identity, the Indians from the village put together a rag tag cricket team. The Moroccans, who take the game as an act of snobbery, do their utmost to be disruptive. Meanwhile, each family has a teenage daughter negotiating the landscape of the sexual revolution. When the sultry Moroccan Nicole and the heady Indian Sara become friends, their youth and desire for freedom help them overcome prejudices. In this isolated place, the road to harmony twists joyfully and surprisingly.
Halahaka
Hebrew, English Subtitles
The time is just after the 1967 Six-day War when a group of Israeli soldiers travel around the country entertaining their fellow servicemen and women in more or less amateur musical numbers and stand-up comedy routines. Interspersed with the entertainment scenes is a plot that brings certain characters together in romantic liaisons and separates others in jealous competition, as the troupe heads towards the goal of appearing on national television.
Rage and Glory
Hebrew, English Subtitles
The ostensible focus of this film by Avi Nesher is the Jewish resistance movement in Palestine in 1942 when the Brits still held colonial power in the region. A 'Stern Gang' (Jewish resistance) cell is set to take revenge on a cruel British officer who has condemned one of their members to death. Unfortunately, weak characterization and a flawed, uneven plot (certain plot developments are simply forgotten) undermine this basically valid concept. Nesher might have gained credibility for his story if he had included other mainstream resistance fighters of the time, thereby placing his protagonists in a more accurate, broader historical context.