Tubianski

The Jewish tradition says that Jews are responsible to each other. This movie is really excellent because it shows the duplicity of Israeli approach to that responsibility. If you are a member of the elitist circle, your life is precious. But if you are not "one of ours", you can be hastily investigated, judged and executed without the right to appeal. The British manager of the Electrical Company, Michael Bryant, to whom Tobianski allegedly passed information, was kidnapped by Israeli guerrilla fighters, accused of espionage and stood trial. He was cleared of all charges and released while his alleged "informer", captain Meir Tobianski, was already executed by a group of unscrupulous intelligence officers. The hastily execution of Meir Tubianski was not the single injustice in Israeli history. There were other innocent people who were wrongly accused and executed in Israel. The people who created this movie deserve special thanks from the young Israelis who love their country and don't want to know anything bad that happened there in the past. This movie shows them that even the Sun has dark spots.

As he did in Hitganvut Yehidim (Infiltration), Oz Zehavi portrays a soldier who, overeager to prove himself, lets his imagination delude him into attacking an imaginary enemy. In this case, however, the story is a true one-- not in every small detail, but in the essentials. It happened during the short period when the Israeli military was transitioning from an alliance of pre-independence militias into a proper state-run army. A man's life was lost. For those already familiar with the story of Tubianski, which is no secret but no touchstone of popular history either, the movie has the appeal of a historical drama where the conclusion is foreknown and the interest comes from the portrayal of the times and the characters. Even for those who don't know the story, the movie may seem kind of one-dimensional; it has little by the way of subplots other than a bit of libido here and there. But it is well acted, although there is a child actor who seems to be twice the age that the script calls for. And the decor looks reasonable, although the camera can never draw back very far on the period buildings. The movie doesn't seem to imply any sweeping political statement or specific parallels to current events, any more than Hitchcock's "The Wrong Man" does. It seems more like someone's personal insistence that even after almost seventy years, it still behooves us to remember.