Tzomet volkan

In THE COMMITMENTS, which stands as the gold standard for fictional band movies, the guys are setting up the band to win respect not just for themselves but for their country. At the film's climax, their efforts are weighed in the balance as an important music figure is due to come see and judge them. In VOLCANO JUNCTION, the band members are less deeply committed and the important audition comes at the beginning of the film rather than at the end. Each member of the band has his own problems, but there is no impending and overarching challenge that they face as a group other than merely staying together. The format of the band movie brings with it vulnerability to a common weakness of Israeli cinema, the attempt to focus on a circle of friends rather than on a single protagonist. It's harder for the audience to handle, and it's harder to do well because quantity of characterizations militates against quality. Personally I found it a little difficult to remember who's who. But the movie's real Achilles heel is that the original music the characters are enthusiastic about is not impressive enough to convey sympathetic enthusiasm in the audience and the singer who is remarkably gifted according to the story-- enough to make any audience, and even a pro from the big city, sit up and take notice-- brings nothing special to the screen. As far as I can recall, no songs originating in the movie became popular on the radio. Eran Riklis has gone on to direct better movies, but interestingly his most recent release, about a basketball coach, was criticized because, just as the music in this film isn't as outstanding as the plot demands, his supposedly big-league players in his basketball movie did not play like big-leaguers.

as an israeli and a "film buff" i anticipated this film who was supposed to elevate the israeli film industry which has officialy turned into a donation industry producing snutty movies that no one actually watch. the basic plot - tzomet volkan tells the tale of a group of mid 20's kriot residents who are trying to form a rock band, unfortunately only its talented singer - shelly ( the - not very convincing, oren shabo) gets an offer to perform in an israerli folk song festival, where the fame and money is. the rest of the group consists of a left wing journalist who wants to be heard, a soccer player who is a violent and a "control freak", 'kahana' the jim carrie of the bunch, among others

now, the movie isn't pretentious, it's made by one of the most prominent directors on israel, eran riklis, and it deals with the israeli society in one of its more controversial and interesting era: the one between the six day war that contributed to the israeli collective ego and the october (yom-kipur) war that dempolished it alltogether.

yet still, i found my self wondering how a 102 min. film feels like a four hour saga that doesn't seem to go anywhere except for the last half hour where all the tension that had mounted SLOWLY finally errupts. maybe we're not as skilled in the seventh art as we'd like to believe, maybe the 300,000$ budget makes the movie pale in comparison to it's mega-budget american counterparts. or maybe i'm just not into nostalgia. 7 out of 10.- wait till it comes out on video

The main characteristic of "Tzomet Volkan" that it's very much a film of time and place. The film plot is taking place in Kirayat Haim, a known workers neighborhood in Haifa in one week in October 1973, the week between two main Jewish holidays: Rosh Ha'shana and Yom Kippur. Indeed the film is limited to very short period of time and occurred in one neighborhood in Israel but it's well passing the cultural pattern of those days in Israel and abroad through the screen, it seems like the film creators used the base plot of the film, a story of a formatting rock band followed by "the usual business": betrayals, difficulties, intrigues and loves, just as a "cover story" for passing this time and place cultural pattern.

This era, the begging of the 1970's who followed the 1960's, main characteristic in the world was rebellions and revulsion's (that made their main expression in music witch is the dominate element in the film), was faced a deep conflict with the feelings of nationalism (that sometimes expressed in very conservative ways) that characterized those days in Israel and followed the victory in the six-days war (1967). So it's not surprising that the film makers choose to end the film with scene of the Yom Kippur war break out. The war that breaks out in the 6th of October 1973, is considered as the reason for the ending of this era and the feelings of nationalism who followed it.

"Tzomet Volkan" is very much a film of place too. The film showing the life in Kiryat Haim with all the things that implies from them: the life in the suburban, in the middle of an industrial area full of heavy industry plants, the distance from the big city - Tel Aviv, and cultural pattern that developed beside of that: the port, the central square, local records store and specially the neighborhood's famous football club - Hapoel Haifa.

For those who liked "Tzomet Volkan" I highly recommend the book "Our Holocaust" written by Amir Guftreund that occurred in Kiryat Haim almost in the same period but deals with very different subject - The holocaust.