Bouba (doll in Hebrew) is not a good movie. Rather boring most of the time, not easy to watch, not something I'd recommend for the non-Israeli viewer as first choice. Its the story of a mute hermit who lost his voice (or chooses not to speak) after a traumatic combat experience. He has a complicated relationship with his criminal brother and a stray girl, and there are certain problems they bring along to his almost autistic life. This is an uneasy, serious, realistic movie which doesn't completely fail but is simply not interesting as is, Most of the attention it gets is from some extremely disturbing scenes. It is not to be viewed by anyone looking to pass an evening relaxing in front of the TV or video, especially not with the kids. But why should they do that ?
Well, for two major reasons. Two of the three leading actors in fact. One is ze'ev revach, a king of light (and dumb) Israeli comedies, who plays an impressive lead role. The other is hanni nachmias, who's usually in the younger entertainment and education business, kindergarten level mostly. They're not the kind of actors you'd expect to see in this kind of film, and (hilariously enough, at least for me) every time this movie is on TV tons of letters are sent to the press and the TV station as to why are they showing this film, why there was no warning about what's in it and why did those two actors do this kind of film in the first place.
So what's so traumatic ? I don't know how many people can bear to watch a jerry-lewis-style comedian being p***ed on, and the girl who used to teach alphabet getting raped and soddomized. On-screen. With nothing left for the imagination.
Most people watch this movie for two reasons - one is expecting it to be a light comedy (considering the talent) and getting one major surprise. The knowledgeable others just want to see sex and violence with a surprising cast. This movie has a so-so plot but its mostly important for the constant controversy it generates and the questions about casting, both from the makers point of view as to how their film will be remembered and a star's choice to do certain uncharacteristic roles. Somehow, maybe this film survived in peoples' memories because of the cast and what said cast does, and if that was the creators' intention in casting, then even more debate arises.
