Fogueira

I just watched this film! Sorry it took so long. I am impressed at how the Israeli Film Industry is developing and maturing. That is the real importance of this film! Well done to everyone. The acting was great! Everyone did a wonderful job. Yes let's be honest they had a good intelligent sensitive and strong script to work with. I wasn't sure where the story would take us, would it keep within that sort of comic story-line or was it going to develop into something more dramatic? Would it go over the top, as many Israeli films have a tendency to do (mostly lack of craft and self confidence in directors and editors) or would the film develop the characters with that same strength as it started with.

It just got better and better! The editing was good too - well done. I am impressed. Congratulations to the director, producers, actors, the entire crew.

The politics of that era? That was a good setting and an interesting way to tell this story. It did not distract from the story, it gave it a good strong setting, it gave it a fundamental foundation on which the writer was able to develop his love of craft.

The set design was good, keeping within the world of the early 1980s - yes these points are important in making a film.

I enjoyed every moment of the film!!! I loved the scene where Tammy is in the apartment by herself, singing and dancing and being a teenage girl in her 'performing imagination' it was wonderful! Hani did a GREAT job!

Everyone and everything was convincing. Again congratulations!

I think people either love or hate this movie, and their politics will have an influence, of course.

The movie shows the less than pretty side of the settler movement and the national religious wing -- the sexism, the hostility toward anyone that doesn't fit the exact mold (even if they support the movement politically), the racism.

The heroine who thinks that going off to a settlement in the occupied territories is - surprise, surprise! - shocked to discover that as a woman without a man, getting accepted will be an uphill struggle (they tell her straight out they need men for not only defense, but prayer quorums, as women don't count there). The near rape of the younger daughter is by nationalistic religious boys who are on the outskirts of their own movement because of their dark skin (the very fundamentalist Shas movement is the result of this discrimination within the religious community, but that's another story).

Of course the religious/settlement people will hate this movie. The people responsible for sending it out of the country will probably be called traitors (and I wouldn't be surprised if there are death threats) for showing the warty side of the settlers among themselves, never mind towards the Palestinians.

Gaon is sure a hoot in his role -- by the way, in real life he is rather center left.

It's too easy to dismiss this film as just another dump on an Orthodox Community and/or the West Bank settlements. There really is a Bnei Akiva and settlements so I can see this kind of thing happening. Probably because I'm not Jewish I can see that the film depicts universal situations that could likely happen in any country or culture other than Bnei Akiva or Orthodox Judaism. I've been at church camps where the "bad boys" have sung dirty songs in a corner by themselves. I haven't seen sexual molestation as happens in this film but I wouldn't say that it's never happened at a church camp. Leaders all over the world try to cover up a scandal the way Motke tries, doing the wrong thing just to preserve the image of their business (organization, political movement, whatever). The search for love is the most universal desire of all. Rachel and Yossi are in a situation where it's extremely difficult to find love, when we're over 40. It happens but not often enough. This film, like many films from countries with unpopular reputations, should have gained more recognition than it did.

Yehoram Gaon deserves special recognition for coming out of retirement to take on a small part in the film. He could have easily rested on his reputation but he assumes the role of a not particularly likable pompous ass and does it well. Yehoram Gaon was the teenage idol of Israel in the 1960's. He deserves special credit for allowing himself to be photographed old, balding and with his gut hanging over his cummerbund. That's real bravery. But he proves in this film he still has it as a singer in a memorable scene of a cantorial concert. Yehoram Gaon could sing chazanut to this Gentile for hours and I wouldn't mind.

Michaela Eshet also deserves special recognition for her portrayal of a single mother dealing with raising teenage daughters as she simultaneously goes on the dating market after her year of mourning. IMDb doesn't list many film performances of Michaela Eshet so I must assume that her expertise comes from the stage.

This is not a perfect film. The Hebrew title "Medurat Hashevet"should have been more literally translated into English as "Tribal Campfire" to provide a better description of the story line. It would have been better to see Tami's molesters punished, Motke demoted and all the other loose ends of the various situations tied up but there's only so much that can be accomplished in the standard two hours. I'll give this movie nine stars out of ten.

I've just seen the second screening of this film at the berlinale.joseph cedar is hardly known at all in germany and so i thought i'd seen one of these first'n'nice-but-well... movies - and was caught off guard. the movie tell the story of three women (mother and two daughters) living in the israel of 1981.the mother is a widow since one year and the film shows how she and her daughters cope with the situation. so the story sounds simple but the mr. cedar has found a really good way of waving backgrounds around it. as there are the settlements-movement and the male dominated society. he really manages to give an impression of a society by showing people act and live in this society.

one of the best movies i saw in months!!

The Israeli title is Medurat Hashevet. Rachel Gerlik is a widow with two teen daughters, Tami and Esti. She is struggling and applies to join a new West Bank settlement. She has to first convince the founding community of her commitment to the cause. Her girls join the group's youth wing for a camping excursion. Late into the night, Tami gets left alone with a group of boys around the campfire.

The hypocrisy is front and center. This is a tough situation and a challenging film. Some viewers may not want that challenge although it seem to have been a critical success in the festival circuit including Israel.