L'été d'Aviya

Award-winning writer-actress Gila Almagor recalls some of the trauma she experienced as a child while living in a small Israeli settlement just after World War II. In a bold, emotional performance Almagor herself portrays her own mother, a Nazi death camp survivor, whose harsh and overprotective affection toward her ten-year old daughter betrayed the symptoms of an inevitable nervous breakdown. It may sound like just another coming-of age story, but the film is more an intense and cathartic drama about divided families and about the lingering after-effects of the Holocaust, devastating in its implications and filled with moments of insight, compassion, and tragedy. Equally impressive is the debut performance by ten-year old Kaipo Cohen in the title role, and director Eli Cohen himself co-stars as the European immigrant young Aviya suspects (wrongly) of being her long-lost father.

The movie doesn't sell you anything but its straight-forward yet naive reality. Characters very truthful. Comical and tragical live together. Simple. Rich. Wonderful. The Holocaust theme is there and you can feel it's burning under ground. But despite all, life is in every breath of this movie. A must see.

Just by virtue of time and place this is an interesting application of downtrodden coming-of-age material, but you're really straining to get an awful lot out of it - you come away with moments like the listening to the refugee update on the radio; the immediacy of memories of loss and suffering (but not foregrounded here); the thwarted destinies (the man who calls himself a banker but actually works at plucking chickens). Most striking is how tranquil and apparently well rooted the country is even at this frail point in its history - the kids playing on the streets; the local gossip as banal and mundane as if it had been there for ever, and there's the real beauty of it I guess - that it's a real homeland from the outset; like Aviya, inherently worthy and capable of deep poetry but stumbling to find the full flowering of its identity. Still, a minor movie - minimal and unshowy both in its style and themes.

This movie addresses a theme rarely portrayed - the frail and painful early post WWII era (it was not yet known as the Holocaust / Shoah) that coincided with the birth of the State of Israel - simple, poor, and just finding its' way. It is largely taken for granted how the survivors, as well as the newest citizens of Israel had to adapt and persevere. This movie, with its' depiction of life in the early years of the state, does a wonderful job of capturing this. This true story is ably conveyed by the fine acting performances. The filming, with dusty roads, vintage cars and clothing, is excellent. This movie is not for everyone, but if you have any interest at all in this topic and / or era - it is a must see.