Or

Get ready for a raw, gritty look at prostitution and how some end up there. While the plot is uncomplicated, the film is unrelenting -- you won't crack so much as a smile; no humor whatsoever here. The story of a prostitute and her teenage daughter is powerfully told. The daughter, predictably, runs the household and has to mother the hopelessly irresponsible mother. They barely get by with the help of the neighbors, who are also the owners of a diner where the daughter works part-time. It's a slice-of-life drama that, while it takes place in Israel, could easily take place anywhere where low expectations meet low self-esteem. Be warned: It doesn't leave you upon leaving the theater.

I first saw Ronit Elkabetz in The Band's Visit, and then in Late Marriage. She was fantastic in both and really captivated me. I am so glad I saw her in films where she was appealing before I saw this. Here, she is an aging, drug-addicted prostitute, who is being cared for by her teen daughter Or (Dana Ivgy). It is classic role reversal, and it is not very pretty.

It means Or works late at night, collects anything that can be sold, and cares for her mother like she was a child. All to keep her off the streets. School becomes a hit or miss thing as she spends time collecting bottles. It is a day-to-day battle.

While Or is trying to save her mother she is being used as a sexual receptacle by everyone. She finally ends up getting paid for it rather than just giving it away. All to no avail as her mother continues to hit the streets.

Ivgy and Elkabetz were outstanding in this sad slice of life.

Most of the other comments here about this movie are correct, but they dance around the central issue, I think. But first . . .

First: the acting here is superb. I had to remind myself I wasn't watching a documentary.

Second: the cinematography is unusual and highly effective. It's a certain style that other directors have used (some Japanese guy, for example, whose name escapes me.) Someone here describes it as minimalist, and maybe it is, but it has the effect of putting you in the scene as a sort of innocent bystander. For example, the camera does not always follow the action; rather, it is stationary and the characters pass back and forth. Sometimes they drift off screen, or almost off screen, right in the middle of a scene. In this particular case, it works to great effect. It's as if you're sitting on the couch, ignored, slightly embarrassed, taking it all in.

OK, now for the story. This is a story about sex, women, and men, in its most elemental form. Sex for money, or barter, whatever. Sex for cheap thrills. But mostly, this is about the way that men use women, and IN PARTICULAR how Israeli men relate to women. That's the crux of it, because this film was not shot in Argentina, or Kenya, or Thailand, but in the (so-called) Holy Land. 50 years after the establishment of the state of Israel, once referred to as the Moral Vacation Spot of the World, we see a society which is blatantly exploitive of women. No moral compass here. We get the landlord who cops a feel for the rent. A soldier on leave from the West Bank who demands a blow job. Drunks in the street humping an aging whore. An ex husband who couldn't care less that his former wife walks the streets. This is gritty stuff to see in the land of Jesus & Co.

So, not a fun movie -- leaves you feeling like you just took a nap on the floor of a Greyhound terminal -- but if you're up for well done realism, this is for you.

P.S. Lots of nudity, and sex, but don't expect to get turned on; it's more like watching an xxx flick from inside the porn star's head.

P.P.S. (Written much later) If you're up for another interesting look at Israeli sexuality, there's a documentary called (I think) The First Zionist Bunny. It's about how Playboy selected a host for their cable channel in Israel. Very interesting flick.

To be perfectly honest, I found it more than slightly perplexing that an Israeli film, in Hebrew, is titled in the IMDb in its French title (in Hebrew, it's titled "Or", a semi-common name meaning "light). The film received impressive accolades at Cannes festival which may explain why France is a major market for this film.

"Or" (Dana Ivgy in a mesmerizing performance) is a teenager that spends the better part of her days on taking care of her mother, Ruthie (Ronit Elkabetz in an equally gut wrenching performance). Ruthie is a recovering (with varying levels of success) drug addict and barely adequate to take care of herself, let alone, support a family. That task is entirely in Or's responsibility and her odd jobs interfere with her educational agenda (which will turn out to be the least of her worries).

What Or is deprived in parenting, she compensates by casual flings with boys who, more often than not, exploit her good nature and a need to be loved for, well, you all know what men want.

Surprisingly enough, despite the harshness of Or's existence, she is a jubilant girl with a very strong bond with her mother and even manages to conduct a border line Friendship/Romance with a pensive classmate, Ido (Nesher Cohen).

Unfortunately (read: inevitably), old demons from the past threaten to shatter the already fragile family and when dubious character's appear on Or and her mother's dilapidating apartment, aided with the outright disapproval of Ido's family to his relationship with Or, the harsh existence calls for cutting corners solutions with devastating effects (which I can't reveal).

This movie is a minimalist movie with no camera movements, no voice over and no music of any kind. I believe it was meant to intensify the experience as opposed to refining it. If that was the objective of the director, it was accomplished fully largely to its raw direction and impressive acting. An objective that was compromised (or maybe unjustly low-prioritized) was depicting a subtle portrait of Or.

Subtlety is very rare commodity in this film. Extensive nudity, graphic sex scenes and other scenes that don't leave anything for imagination turn the already hard to absorb feature into a film that is profoundly gut wrenching but emotionally too disturbing to be enjoyed.

I should note, in the name of objectivity, that the extremely explicit nature of this film (a disturbing trait many Israeli films still hone) might not deter people with a less conservative standpoint than my own but even those of you who are less troubled by nudity, sex and blunt content in general, should expect a very difficult film to watch and for the privilege of a film pondered on long after the screening ends, one must prepare to pay for with a very unnerving viewing.

8 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter.

A story about people, women, which strikes at the heart. A tale which explores the life of a prostitute, and her daughter destined to follow along her path. A camera which skirts around the bodies of the characters. A vision that is intimate, yet distant, non-judgmental. The wasting away of the female flesh, and the reflection of the daughter in the mother, the mother in the daughter. How hopes and dreams begin to whither in the face of circumstance, and how difficult day to day life can be. A beautiful film which elegantly avoid the banalities and triteness of any political statement, yet explores a subject which is inherently political. A must-see if nothing more than for the skillful and intelligent camera.