Te'alat Blaumilch

Kishon is amazing. This is jewel in the Israeli satire against bureaucracy, way of life, historical heritage and the 60's in Israel. It is hysterically funny. A must see for every movie loving person. The story is about a madman which starts to dig a hole, and since bureaucracy and political rivals kick in, they take the charge for digging s hole in the most busiest street in Tel Aviv. Of course after everyone does not take the blame for it, after creating a venetian tunnel of of the street, everyone take responsibility for their own "life achievement" Thank you, Kishon, for making this movie!

You can't judge The Big Dig by 21st-century standards of comedy, and certainly not by 21st-century standards of political correctness. A fellow escapes from an insane asylum and merrily upsets the order of things in Tel Aviv. We don't even call them insane asylums any more, and we certainly don't laugh at the patients' behavior. Nor, for that matter, at the accents of minority groups, nor at overly friendly relationships between bosses and secretaries.

But those were different times. Kishon's point was to satirize the bureaucracy, always a timely target, and he recruited an impressive cast of Israeli comedians although his most impressive feat, spoken of with awe to this day, was to realistically recreate a large, well-known Tel Aviv intersection on a movie lot-- and flood it with water. In terms of scale, that makes The Big Dig the Ben Hur of Israeli comedies.

The movie isn't too well integrated-- for example, the reaction shots sometimes seem pasted in-- but the actors know what they're doing and they do it well, notably including Bomba Tzur in a lead role that requires him to be amusing without amusing lines.

This is a harmless, somewhat funny bit of Israeli slapstick, with plenty of people screaming at each other, gesticulating and running around in circles. It is a takeoff on Israeli (and any other)bureaucracy, and, I suppose the hectic life in Tel-Aviv in the late 1960s. Amusing to watch (once) but hardly anything that is going to make Ingmar Bergman or Roman Polanski lose any sleep.

Apart from "Lemon Popsicle" series of films from Israel,there are not so many directors in the history of Israelian cinema who have made successful comedy films.If there is a man who has made enjoyable comedy films it is Iprahim Kishon.As he was primarily a great writer,he was able to infuse his writing talents in his films.It can be said about Iprahim Kishon's film "Te'alat Blaumilch" that its visual as well aesthetic style was completely different from the films made by other comic geniuses like Max Linder,Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Apart from its highly original idea of a lunatic digging a canal in the middle of a street,this film was famous for its set design which consisted of a replica of a fictitious canal right in the middle of Tel Aviv city.A thing which might irk some feminist viewers is that this is a bit sexist in nature as there are numerous ribald jokes consisting of futile attempts made by office boss to seduce his beautiful secretary. Iprahim Kishon made three great comic films and this film is one of those laugh riots which is surely going to drive you crazy with endless bouts of laughter.

With a tiny budget, Kishon and his superb cast, manage to pull off a mammoth task.

A lunatic on the loose, obsessed with diggers, steals one and starts digging in the middle of a main Tel-Aviv road. The authorities, in the midst of an election campaign, ever suspicious of each other, need to explain the resulting chaos.

Although everything in this this film is great, from the acting to the set (a fantastic duplicate of central Tel-Aviv in the sixties), the real treasure of it is the storyline - without a shred of doubt, one of the best ever written! Complexed, and yet so easy to follow, Kishon had written a masterpiece of a satire! If this film is ever to be made in English, it would become a huge success, 'The Full Monty' style - guaranteed! And if you happen to be a film producer looking for a break, perhaps you should take note of that and get hold of a copy!