Walk on Water

"Walk on Water" piles layers of personal, family, religious, cultural, historical, employment, geopolitical, sexual, geographical, guilt and responsibility issues on two men -- and still makes it work as the gripping story of two individuals whose lives affect each other.

I saw an interview with director Eytan Fox where he said he wanted to imagine the two most opposite men possible and make them deal with each other. With writer Gal Uchovsky, he focuses on two men who are almost philosophical constructs of dissimilarity yet they come across as real people whose actions and reactions are unpredictable.

The central character Eyal is the quintessential sabra (Israeli-born native), a craggy, macho Mossad agent unable to discuss his feelings about his ravaged marriage, a child of a Holocaust survivor, fatigued with terrorist attacks and revenge, but in the opening moments efficiently murders a Hamas leader.

He is sent by his mentor/father figure on a rogue mission that annoys him in every possible way -- going undercover to gain the confidence of a young German fully integrated into the EU whose every opinion, action, lifestyle and family background he despises, a continental take on "Donnie Brasco." They personify Faulkner's dictum that "The past is never dead. It's never even past." as each man learns that the measure of a man is not just what he does today and did yesterday, but the genetics and heritage that make up his identity and does influence his choices -- choices that we hold our breaths to see played out.

Lior Ashkenazi captures the screen projecting the relaxed casualness of male camaraderie comfortable from years in the military and then his reactions as he gradually realizes he's been thrust into more complex situations.

Though the situations get a bit too artfully complicated when their somewhat picaresque adventures range from the German's kibbutznik sister to Palestinians to skinheads and a somewhat unnecessary though emotionally satisfying coda, the dialog does refrain from a couple of the most obvious ironies as each man gradually reveals their true nature to each other.

Hearing "Achtung!" amidst Israeli folk dancing is among the unusual juxtapositions in a movie where the characters can only communicate across the divides in English, amidst the three languages they speak among themselves.

While the original music by Ivri Lider is particularly good at emphasizing the underlying emotional content and the diverse cultural environs they find themselves in, the selection of popular music they are listening to adds an additional level of knowing commentary, from the agent's preference for Bruce Springsteen, the avatar of rock 'n' masculinity (particularly the symbolism of him favoring "Tunnel of Love"), to European pop and oldies novelty songs to Israeli folk and popular songs, including the agent's great discomfort at having to translate a poignant romantic song from the Hebrew.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It was entertaining, educational, and thought provoking... enough so for me to register with IMDb and write about it here.

This film takes on a multitude of social issues, some of them very superficially. However, because it has a solid plot, excellent character development, and top-notch acting, I found myself engrossed in the film.

The only downside of the film is that it asks many many questions, but only really examines one or two of them. It might have been better to not confuse the theme of the film by introducing so many issues. But, for whatever reason, it works.

This film touches on Israeli-German relations, Israeli-Arab relations, homosexual relationships, heterosexual relationships, marriage and family life, terrorism-counterterrorism, and generational conflict. Of these, it really examines Israeli-German relations and homosexual relationships in most detail and leaves a lot of open questions on the other issues.

If you're thinking at this point that the film sounds like it might be a bit too heavy, think again. It does a good job of providing you with an entertaining experience while masterfully weaving in each of these issues. I would highly recommend it.

I don't know why other reviewers characterize the Eyal character as "racist" (just because he calls suicide bombers "animals" which is too good an epithet) or "homophobic" (just because he is asking about some technical details about gay relations). In my humble opinion, the movie is a fair description of Israeli realities, and German (or European) softness for terrorists. Being familiar with both Israeli and German realities I found was fascinated by the director's insights and by the fine acting of the three principals as well as the supporting actors. The music by Esther and Abi Ofarim and the nice mixture of German, Englicsh and Hebrew made the movie most enjoyable.

I won't bother to summarize the movie, because many of the existing user comments give very detailed descriptions of the plot (much more information than someone who hasn't seen the movie yet would want). I just want to encourage anyone who hasn't seen the movie to check it out. It's a provocative movie, exploring a bunch of interesting themes, including Israeli relations with both Palestinians and Germans. I also found it to be an engaging film, with interesting characters and many involving story lines. It's almost a fable or fairytale, which the title alludes to. Go in the right frame of mind and you'll enjoy the movie very much, as I did.

I have seen this movie a few days ago, and I am still thinking about it. I believe this is one of the best films I have seen in a very long while. The film has a rare combination of being fun to watch and amusing at times, combined with a real deep movie with real deep characters and sophisticated.

It is safe to say that the film is not clean of some logical flaws, but they do not disturb the flow of the film. I loved everything about this film, from the script to the acting and to the excellent photography (which, I have to admit, is rare in Israelie movies, at least until the last few years).

Although I do understand that Israelies and Germans are more likely to connect to this film, I recommend it to everybody. I think it can be appreciated by anyone who likes quality cinema.

Ofer.