Ha-Hesder

Israeli settlement, yeshiva with a dangerous, charismatic rabbi, and a military unit of devout young orthodox Jews. Combination of fundamentalist approach to faith and proximity of weapons, always a very bad idea.Mix in two young men and the rebellious daughter of the above-mentioned rabbi Meltzer, and there we have a love triangle. I usually thoroughly enjoy Israeli cinematography known for its freshness and creativity, but " Time of Favor" falls short. Could be the lack of knowledge about the Orthodox branch of Judaism on my part ( i am not Jewish), or possibly the muddled vision of the director. I am not sure, but what's left is a tackle on this universal problem of religious fundamentalists who, of course believing that they are the only ones with the right answers, feel obliged to demolish everybody else. Sad state of affairs but not enough for a movie.

The TV guide described TIME OF FAVOUR as thus:

" A rabbi's daughter must choose between the man she loves and the man her father wants her to marry "

So I sat down to watch a movie that I expected to be a romantic drama , and being an Israeli film I also expected to see some secular Vs religious politics . But this isn't what I got . For the most part the story does indeed play out as a love triangle between the rabbi's daughter on one hand and two friends in the IDF on another , but then about two thirds of the way through it becomes clear that this is a political thriller featuring a bomb plot not too different from something Bruce Willis might have appeared in several years ago . When I say becomes clear I mean after one of the character's gets a bloody good kicking off the Shin Bett , up to this point I was asking myself where on Earth the movie was heading

There's two ways of looking at this . One is that TIME OF FAVOR is a highly complex film , the other being that it's a highly unfocused one . I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it's complex one . It should also be pointed out that if you have absolutely no knowledge or interest of Israeli politics or culture clash you will be at a loss trying to understand this movie , though it's difficult to imagine someone watching a movie in Hebrew - albeit in subtitles - who doesn't have any interest in Israel

This movie is a good benchmark to judge other movies: it was ALMOST good and ALMOST poor as it loses the viewer and then ALMOST recovers its mistakes. Relying on subtitles often made the story difficult to understand as they quickly flashed and disappeared. Hence, the visual was more important than interpreting the dialogue. The script's development of ambience and culture and human conflicts are either too skimpy or awkwardly placed in the flow of things. I am of the opinion that only Spanish films compete with the film subtitle speed.

Not having visited Israel, I was as interested in the captured geography and visuals as I was the story. So, I was too often left outside of the vision of the writer. Having said that, it was a ALMOST an average picture that was not that convincing in its telling and managed to get to the ending credits.

Very good Israeli film. Simply told story based on a good script, good cast selection, good directing, good cinematography, good music, and last but not least - good actors.

As if Israeli cinema professionally is already mature enough, it is time some Israeli filmmaker to get Oscar. As if slightly Academy ignores Israeli cinema, or at least movies like this left such an impression.

It does not need a film to be a unique masterpiece to delight the viewer. A well-told story by means of professional good cinema will do the job, as in this case.

This is the first Israeli film I have seen and I really wanted to get to know more about the citizens via this route. Though I did learn some things, it isn't enough to recommend. The director presumes the audience knows the situation and all the locales. Though I keep up with the news daily, I just couldn't identify with the West Bank settlers. The undertone of religious renegades and dark collusion just wasn't filmed correctly. The scenes kept jumping around and I wanted to call the editor and ask why there couldn't be more of a flow to the sequences. I am looking forward to seeing more Israeli productions. Perhaps I can learn more of that beseiged society that I didn't feel here.