Incitement

The world got shocked on the 4th of November, 1995, when Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated.* While Rabin did not set out to change the foundation of Israel's relations with the Palestinians, he nonetheless wanted to grant them some autonomy. This enraged Israel's far-right religious community, who saw him as a traitor. His assassin, Yigal Amir, came from this community.

Yaron Zilberman's "Yamim noraim" ("Incitement" in English) focuses on Amir and his radicalization. Israel's submission to the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film depicts the religious establishment as the ones who drove Amir to murder Rabin, even if they didn't tell him to do so. They put up posters of Rabin depicting him as Israel's enemy. Either way, these are some scary individuals; it's almost as if they inspired the Taliban. We saw similar depictions of Obama from the far right (many of them evangelical Christians) in the US. Regardless of the religion, fundamentalists are no one to trust.

Overall, this is a fine movie. In keeping the focus on Yigal Amir, it shows his evolution from typical Orthodox person to full-on fanatic. Frightening stuff. Definitely see it.

*I was approximately the same age at that time that my parents were when JFK got assassinated. As Mark Twain put it, history doesn't always repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.

Greetings again from the darkness. Since November 4, 1995, the day that Yigal Amir shot and killed Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, speculation has existed that there could have been peace in the Middle East - if only the assassination had not occurred. The film opens on the first Oslo Peace Accord in 1994. Why was there a segment of the population concerned about possible peace? They were angry at the idea of surrendering their "promised land" to Palestinians and the Chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat.

Writer-director Yaron Zilberman and co-writers Yair Hizmi and Ron Leshem aren't focused on what an end to the hostilities might look like today. Instead they offer up a psychological study of Yigal Amir (played by a forceful Yehuda Nahari Halevi) and what drove him to take the fateful action that changed the course of history. The film is presented as a slow-build thriller, and it mainly takes us through Yigal's transformation from activist to assassin ... a giant and significant step.

Yigal is a Law student at Bar-Ilan, and the college campus is filled with protests and tables dispensing information on all sides. Soon enough, Yigal is seeking counsel from rabbis who seem to be on board with revenge. When someone becomes obsessed, it's not uncommon for them to 'hear what they want to hear.' Yigal sees Rabin fitting into the Jewish law of "pursuer/Rodif and Informer", and he believes himself to be guided by Talmud and rabbis. The film is not about Yigal's glory, but rather WHY he did it.

Alternatingly charming and frightening, intelligent and foolish, Yigal organizes a rebel movement for what he sees as a coming war. To him, there is no line between religion and politics. With archival footage of Netanyahu speaking out against Rabin and the peace project, it just pushes Yigal that much closer to action. There are three women who cross paths with Yigal and have varying impacts on him. His mother convinces him he is due for greatness (again, he interprets in his own way); Nava (Daniela Kertesz) is attracted to him, but can't come to grips with his beliefs; and Margalit (Sivan Mast), who respects Yigal and understands how to lead him deeper down his chosen path.

There is a terrific scene between Yigal and his father, where the parent is emphasizing to the son he knows he's losing that only the hand of God should determine Rabin's fate ... not an idealistic young man. The Oslo II accord from 1995 leads Yigal to conclude that Rabin is a traitor, and that it's God's will for Yigal to "let him go out like a tyrant." This is all chilling to watch, and it helps us comprehend the vicious cycle of violence that plagues the Middle East. The film was Israel's official submission for Academy Award consideration.

Set in early 90's, director Yaron Zilberman's sophomore feature film follows a young university student who becomes a radical leader determined to exterminate the enemy among his Jewish community, as he engages on a political war against Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Rising star Yehuda Nahari Halevi gives a breakthrough performance as the villain protagonist, building up his character with incredible skills: he must fulfill his duties with family, friends and girlfriend, all while trying to organize a fully-armed, rebel movement. Israel's official entry for the 2020 0scars, and named Best Film by the Israeli Film Academy, it captures the anxiety and tension of the crime with extreme brilliance and fast paced action, while connecting the crime to relevant romantic and familiar insights. Zilberman conceives a suspenseful, detailed and observational psychological thriller depicting a man's journey from a regular activist guy to a notorious murderer.

Like the Kennedy assassinations, the Rabin assassination is surrounded by a lot of unanswered questions. But this dramatization adheres closely to the accepted theory of Yigal Amir as lone killer. The English-language title, "Incitement" (unlike the Hebrew title) hints at the tirelessly repeated accusations that the political right in general, and Bibi Netanyahu in particular, stirred up the deadly animus against Rabin. However, the movie makes a point of accurately showing a couple of incidents that the accusations commonly distort. It shows that a particularly nasty poster of Rabin (dressing him in an SS uniform) was distributed by agent provocateur Avishai Raviv and wasn't really a poster at all but a handbill; and it shows that a coffin carried in an anti-Oslo demonstration was not a symbol threatening Rabin with death but a symbol lamenting the supposed death of Zionism. Where the depiction does go overboard, I'd say, is in emphasizing the tacit support by the religious establishment for an attack on Rabin. Bar-Ilan University, which has a Jewish religious atmosphere but also has secular Jewish students and even Arab students, is portrayed as entirely religious and plastered with anti-Rabin posters on every wall. Rabbis are shown one after another stopping short of disapproval with respect to Amir's intention to kill Rabin.

Despite not spending important time bashing Bibi, the movie does bother at the end to grumble that when he took office, his inaugural speech didn't mention Rabin.

But how is the movie as a movie? you ask. Apart from stating its point of view on the murder (and being released in Israel half a week before an election), it doesn't seem to have much of a message. As an exercise in recreating episodes that are only 25 years old and well remembered from the news, it works well. It blends recreations with authentic footage elegantly. The filmmakers did not employ well-known actors who would have made disbelief difficult to suspend, but the actors handle their parts well. The music is spare and appropriately ominous. But if the movie breaks forth from its narrow focus to imply any larger statement about the human condition, I missed it.

Excellent balance between real footage and acting material. I clearly remember those very sad days in 1995. Very well done, incitement is the perfect title. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼