Camminando sull'acqua

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.

This is a unique film that has several layers all happening at once.

The clash between gay and hetro men. The Israeli-Arab conflict. Bringing Natzi criminals to justice. All this and more while undergoing a sight-seeing tour north and south of Israel with its beautiful scenery.

To summerise... A must see film. Not your usual expected Hollywood drama but a true multi-cultural story with dynamic and evolving characters.

Sometimes the opening credits predict a great deal about the film itself. Sometimes it's a deliberate decision of the director and sometimes it's a plain business decision. James bond's movies always began with silhouettes of highly attractive women holding guns in a "I'm having a seizure" postures (a long and annoying tradition that stopped only on "Die another day") , Ed Wood films opening credits were presented as epitaffs on graves (indicating that people would see the films over their dead bodies) etc.

This film's credits are pretty conventional, only they are in English. This is more than slightly perplexing since this film is not only shot, mainly, in Israel but also because it deals with a topic that is highly charged and controversial among Israelis, namely, the collaboration with modern day Germany, in light of the not so distant past of the Holocaust.

Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi in a terrific performance) is a Mossad agent, returning from Turkey after an efficient and clean assassination of a Terrorist only to find that during his absence his wife, Iris, committed suicide. Eyal, an obtuse individual who only benefited from it in his work, seems unaffected emotionally by such a tragic loss and the worried powers that be demote him (to his dismay) to gather information about a Nazi criminal that lives a clandestine life in an undisclosed location. Eyal poses as a tour guide for Axel, the Nazi's grandson, visiting his sister in a Kibbutz (a once glorified and now decaying socialist community) after she disengaged herself from her parents.

The "Spying" mission turns soon enough to be a "Roman a clef", a self discovery voyage where Eyal deals with his upbringing in a house of Holocaust survivors and the flaws of his character that made him a first rate assassin but a third rate human being. Axel, the German tourists who starts as Eyal's nemesis (not only because of his origin but also due to his gay tendencies and his merry and merciful personality), ends up as the one who turns Eyal's life around.

The relationship with modern day Germany is still a touchy subject in Israel and will probably remain so for many decades to come. Till this day, many families don't travel to Germany or even buy German products and although I believe that no generation is born with a debt, I never judge those who boycott Germany considering the demons they have to face as a result of the never too distant to be forgotten Holocaust. This movie deals with the dealing of both Israelis and Germans with their past and with each other by the impossible friendship between Eyal and Axel.

The Latin credits, as I said before, are the prophecy for the filmmakers' intention for foreign viewing. It begins with the almost apologetic mentioning that Eyal's assassination "victim" is a terrorist , continues with the too PC and not very plot-essential coexistence with the Israeli-Arab population and the atmosphere of the gay night life.

Moreover, the film conveniently deals with another controversial subject, Palestinian Terror, in a manner that is easier for the European "creative stomach" to digest. At a certain point, its over flown with excessive self-righteousness that is rarely identified in a terror ridden country.

That reservation is the film's only major flaw and, altogether, the collaboration between the writer, Gal Uchovski, and director, Eitan Fuchs, spawns one of the best written and directed Israeli films I came across. Aided with wonderful acting and well constructed plot, this film encounters its major controversial issue bravely and authentically which I assume, atones the writer and driector's failure to do so in its minor one.

8.5 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter.

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.

This movie was billed as a film about a Mossad agent going after a war criminal. One would suspect something along the lines of The Bourne Identity or Munich. You would be sorely disappointed.

This is a film about life and about people. It is about forgiving and forgetting. It's about "getting over it." It is about acceptance of others regardless of their national origin or sexual orientation.

This film is full of surprises and it is how people deal with those surprises that is what is so fascinating about it. It is about generational differences and how the same thing affects the young and old.

If you are interested in Holocaust films or Israeli-Palestinaian relations, then this is a film you will certainly enjoy.