Un havre de paix

'HaTzlila' / 'The Dive' is one of those films that has an interesting and significant 'making of' history about how the idea was born and how the production was made. Director Yona Rozenkier is at his first film, although he is not very young, approaching the age of 40. It is a special film (also) as it can be defined as a family movie made in the family, and as a community film supported by the community. The story of three brothers has Yona Rozenkier and his two brothers (who are not professional actors) cast in the lead roles. The action takes place in a kibbutz, this is were the shootings took place, the locals were actors and extras but they also took part in the financing the film. However, there are many other reasons why 'The Dive' is a special film in today's Israeli cinema landscape.

The theme and the approach chosen by Yona Rozenkier go in many ways against the prevailing currents in today's Israel, including in its literature and cinematography. The three brothers who are the heroes of the film meet in the kibbutz where they grew up for their father's funeral. The father does not appear in the film but his last wish and the consequences of the way his sons grew up determine many of what will happen. Like most Israeli men, the three brothers are at the age of military service. The two older brothers have already gone through wars, both of them having returned with their traumas, which they face differently. The youngest brother is about to leave soon to participate in another war that is going on around. The Israeli viewers will know how to identify exactly which war, but in fact it doesn't matter, there is always a war going on in Israel or another that is threatening to break out. The main theme of the film is the confrontation with the post-traumas, which leads one of the brothers to adopt a macho militaristic attitude, and the other an escapist and anti-militarist attitude. The younger brother does not have time to prepare for what is to come, in a few days he must not only learn some military techniques, but also, somehow, to overcome his fear. The boys' mother and the father's sister are the two feminine presences in the film, also representing two different ways of dealing with the ongoing tension around them, with the mourning and the risk of sending their children to war. This family represents a micro-cosmos of an entire society threatened by wars, seeking survival and normalcy under conditions of permanent fear, in which those who survive physically are psychologically traumatized.

This is, of course, not the first film in which the heroic narrative of the involvement of Israeli youth in wars is challenged from an alternative point of view. But it seems to me that 'The Dive' has gone further than most other similar films through the brutal frankness of tackling the themes of fear and post-trauma. In the discussion with the director which followed the projection I attended, he said that he avoided graphic exaggerations in choosing the means of expression, because he did not want to make a 'horror' genre film. But nonetheless, 'The Dive' can be seen as a horror movie, the danger that threatens the heroes is a political and social one that on a personal level turns into primary human feelings. The drama of the situation is amplified by the place where the action takes place. But it is more than just a location for shooting. The kibbutz in decay, with its decreasing population, with the ruined economy, with the uncertain moral foundations is more than a background for the story, it can be considered as two major theme of the film. Of course, this is a topic that can be much more developed.

In the political and artistic context of today's Israel, 'The Dive' swims against the current (sorry, I couldn't avoid the metaphor). The film opposes heroic demagoguery to the brutal human sincerity of the feelings of young people thrown into the violent world of the army and of the traumas of those who have passed this life experience less successfully. To the religious themes that dominate the Israeli cinema of the last years 'The Dive' opposes a film about the atheist kibbutz and the confrontation with the realities of the country of the secular Israelis who pay a large part of the price of the capitalist economy and of the permanent war situation. Acted mostly by amateurs, with stylistic means that sometimes are a little schooly, the film has fluency and expressiveness. I only hope that for Yona Rozenkier this first feature film will be a launching pad. 'The Dive' is a sincere and personal film, the autobiographical character and the involvement of the family and of the community it its making gives it authenticity. His next films will have to confirm the filmmaker qualities that he now demonstrated.