Last Dance

This is a heart-melter. Julia Blake makes a sincere performance as the old Jewish lady in the outskirts of Melbourne, a holocaust survivor who came to Australia after the war with her husband and their son, who later died fighting for Israel. The last thing she would want, happens to her as there is a terrorist bomb attack against a synagogue in the city conducted by two Jihadists, one is shot but the other gets away and ends up in Julia Blake's quarters, taking her as a hostage. He is badly wounded, but she was a trained nurse, and when he runs the risk of bleeding to death she takes care of him and dresses his wound. Gradually they develop a relationship, as his family also was completely wiped out by an Israeli tank, like she lost all her family in the holocaust, relocating her husband by way of a miracle after the war. She actually wants him to get away and tries to help him, giving him a ticket and her son's passport, the set-up for his getaway is perfect, but also his own fellow Jihadists are after him. It's a tense drama connecting the holocaust problem and trauma with that of Israel and the Palestinians, and the human interplay is magnificent and totally convincing. I would almost give it a 10.

This is one of those movies that nobody has heard about, it has little or no push from the studio, the actors and actresses are no names, and on the surface it appears to be an obvious plot. But hold the horses, this one will surprise you. The no name actors and actresses are truly superb, the story is original and gripping with many tense and suspenseful scenes, and the emotional connection this movie will evoke is timely and thought provoking.

Bottom-line.....every now and then a little known movie makes the rounds and garners some minor attention and then quietly goes away. This fine film deserves more, it's a sleeper that should be viewed.