Désengagement

Maybe it's fashionable for people to listen to paint drying whilst off their heads on cocaine these days; it's the only reason I could think that would make this movie even tolerable. Boring disconnected dialogues, focussing on the irrelevant whilst skimming through what should be important plot elements (for the little plot that there actually is).

In a nutshell, this movie is the visual equivalent of really bad elevator music - something that leaves you feeling like your senses and your time have, wondering how you allowed yourself to be exposed to it.

The movie starts with a long conversation that seems written solely to enable a character to complain that the Arabs of Palestine are not recognized as a distinct nation although (contends this character, who is never seen again) they have been one for hundreds of years. It continues with a long interlude of existential/claustrophobic drama in a large house in Avignon occupied by the fresh corpse of an old professor, his frequently and unaccountably merry daughter, and his adopted son from Israel, with whom the daughter flirts. This interlude fails perhaps because the actors seldom have a line in their native language and therefore can't summon up the mojo to give the cryptic relationships interest. Then it appears that according to the old man's will, to which the daughter unsuccessfully tries to forge a change, the daughter must now go visit her own abandoned daughter who lives in Gaza in a Jewish settlement which the son already has military orders to coincidentally, at the very same time, go help dismantle. The dismantling of the settlement, re-enacted up the coast at Nitzanim, looks reasonably realistic, at least if you judge by the news footage of the time. A fairly large troupe of bit players does justice to the soldiers and the settlers, and the camera conveys the atmosphere well. As the old man's daughter meets her own daughter and they, at least briefly, lose one another again during the evacuation, is their relationship supposed to symbolize something about the political situation? Or vice versa? What do the scenes in Gaza have to do with the matters raised in the Avignon scenes? A viewer is tempted to think that perhaps Gaza was introduced for no reason but to link an otherwise boring and incomplete movie to a hot item from the recent news pages.

Saw this on cable and it caught all of our attention immediately. The raw emotion of it will not let you stop watching it. You cannot help but put yourself into the plight(s) of this movie. I would recommend watching it if you are at all curious. Juliette is always captivating and very much so in this film. You get to see things in Israel how they happened with the plight of the settlers and the inside police view. It is a different perspective to present since it is kind of an inside view of the circumstances. This movie is OK for kids and adults to view in our opinion. It may bore the kids though... Some of this is subtitled and some is in English. Enough of English so that it keep our families attention since subtitled doesn't seem to go over.

For an Amos Gitai film, I thought this had the most impactive prologue amongst those that I've watched to date, which succinctly sums up the political themes that his films often explore. While it might have thrusted you right into the thick of (in)action, you'll soon realize that he has a tremendous ability to gift wrap his points amongst the most mundane and ordinary.

A Dutch-Palestinian lady gets chatted up by a French Israeli man on a train. They share a cigarette moment, and soon realize that they have a lot more in common than they initially realized. The two strangers's chance meeting soon turn into lust/love at first sight, probably a nod in the direction that even amongst what would be perceived as the most irreconcilable groups of people, can find common ground and understanding, and kiss and make up. Only that there are those in the world like the authorities wielding some power, could make unreasonable demands to try and derail peace efforts, like that train soldier who might have stepped out of his boundary in asserting and demanding that he be listened to and complied with.

Alas the movie failed to keep the pace with its wonderful opening, and for the most parts the build up to the finale sagged heavily under very dire straits stemming from an uninteresting plot which failed to capitalize on the Israeli man Uli (Liron Levo) whom we got introduced, but shifted its attention to the more illustrious Juliette Binoche's Ana, Uli's half sister whom he is meeting in France because of their father's demise, and to discover just what his will entailed. The story found it necessary to go through an entire backstory for nothing, only for us to know little red herring nuggets of information such as Ana's estranged relationship with her separated husband whom we do not see on screen, and that slightly incestuous (well, not exactly) temptations that both Uli and Ana go through, with the latter being the temptress.

It tried to address issues like staying with someone who you don't love, only out of convenience, which Ana confessed to be doing, because she's a lazy soul. But in fact her character flits into mood swings one end to the other, that it's not tough to understand how unappealing she can get, good looker or not. Things start to pick up slightly midway through the film when the actual seed of the story was sown, with the reading of the deceased's will, having to instruct Ana to travel to Gaza to pass on her dad's inheritance to her abandoned daughter Dana (Dana Ivgy) in person.

So begins a road trip for the siblings, which is convenient anyway because Uli was beginning to fade away like a side show, and his return to Israel gives him a chock load of things to do, since he's a police officer, and have been given orders, together with the army, to clear Gaza of its Israeli settlers since Israel has pulled out of the Gaza Strip. Ordering your fellow men off their plot of land and homes are never easy, and this story arc provides that "action packed"moment in Disengagement. The other thread would be of course Ana's quest in locating her daughter, like finding a needle in the perennial haystack, made more difficult because she doesn't speak the language of her countrymen. The story arcs tangent off at this point, but you know there'll definitely be moments for a collision course later in the film.

Through Uli's eyes we see how their evacuation operation gets carried out, having to be compassionate, yet stern in a thankless job that involves ejecting by any means possible the settlers who are protesting their rights. One involves grabbing the people and forcing them onto chartered buses to take them back to the mainland, and on the other having heavy machinery either bulldoze everything insight, or the utilization of cranes to literally lift homes off the soil. One can imagine if one is forced away from your home at the snap of a finger, and that is definitely something difficult to swallow.

Disengagement unfortunately is like a self-fulling prophecy, having the middle portion starkly dragging against the powerful prologue and finale. If only it could find a better gel to stick both ends together in a more engaging fashion.

Will be honest off the bat about not caring for any of the films in Amos Gitai's "Border Trilogy" (the other two being 2004's 'Promised Land' and 2005's 'Free Zone'), seeing them mainly because they had interesting subjects and performers (Rosamund Pike, Natalie Portman and Juliette Binoche primarily) responsible for some great work.

That being said, all three films have their merits but also a lot of faults. All three are examples of films that dealt with heavy, sensitive and brave subjects but could have done much more with them and handled them more compellingly and tactfully. Of the three, 2007's 'Disengagement' may be the best, being by far the best-looking and having a few moving, emotionally impactful moments that the other two lacked. Mostly though, the execution was wanting and it mostly left me disengaged.

'Disengagement' does have good things. As said, it is the best-looking of the trilogy, which is saying a lot seeing as 'Free Zone' in particular was visual chaos. There were however some beautiful images here and also some harrowing ones that will stay with me for a while. The scenery again is atmospheric and evocative. Again, another attraction is the soundtrack. Not only is it very well-composed and full of atmosphere and sheer beauty, it really adds and even enhances the mood, giving an emotional wallop.

Considering what they were given, the actors do a good job. Particularly Hiam Abbass on movingly dignified form and Jeanne Moreau. Operatic soprano Barbara Hendricks also impresses. Like 'Promised Land', the opening scene of 'Disengagement' was very promising, but the highlight story-wise is the poignant last 15-20 minutes.

However, despite the great opening and ending the film in between is messy. 'Disengagement' is never as distasteful or gratuitously salacious as 'Promised Land' or as preachy and confusing as 'Free Zone', but a lot of it is long-winded and dull. Particularly the first half which often goes nowhere, goes on for much too long and relies on the interaction of the actors which is not always very natural. The Gaza scenes are a little less drawn out, but are hardly illuminating or insightful and get heavy-handed and far too one-sided. It can be hard to follow too and feels very disorganised, as well as the two halves being far too much of a disconnect to each other (having little to no relevance to each other), but doesn't feel incomplete like 'Free Zone' did.

Script-wise, 'Disengagement' is very stilted, rambling and is one of the most bizarre for any film seen by me for a while. The character development is mostly very flimsy and extraneous, as aimless as the film's first half. There are exceptions to the acting, Binoche herself and Leron Levo, she trying too hard and he not enough. Once again, Gitai directs in a way that is suggestive of the concept of subtlety being completely alien to him.

In conclusion, some good things and the best of "The Border Trilogy" but mostly left me disengaged. 5/10 Bethany Cox