hadayarim

Bill Hicks, the late prophet. As a stand up comic he may not supply sitcom-style laughs every twelve seconds, but his act is the intellectual equivalent of reading twelve books. Bill Hicks opens our eyes and minds to the hypocrisy and ludicrousness of the world around us, when he presents some hard facts about alcohol versus drugs, the mind blowing statistics of alcohol induced death as opposed to death cause by virtually all other illegal drugs combined, the irony of anti marijuana campaigns followed by shameless beer commercials, the countless ways religions have strayed off of their paths to become nothing more than organized superstitions, and the list goes on. Study him, learn his words by heart, and realize how much better countries/governments/life could be if it made half the sense he does.

Metzitzim remains the best Israeli movie ever made, and that is saying a lot about it, considering the fact that it was made over 30 years ago and did not deal with the classic Israeli subject matters, meaning the political or the religious. In fact, the film's subject matter is as universal as it gets, dealing with loneliness and hanging on to youth, but at the same time this is undoubtedly the most Israeli movie ever filmed, due to the wonderful dialogues which were co written by Zohar and Einshtein. Many of the film's nuances are utterly untranslatable and will be unfortunately missed by non-Hebrew-speaking viewers. The movie is a must nonetheless, especially if you appreciate truth in film.

I can think of no other movie in any language which blends humor with deep sadness in such a subtle manner. "Metzitzim" is the ultimate sad clown. The funny sequences are masterful, such as the silent peeping tom scene, but it is the rare dramatic moments, summed up by mere glances, which make this movie shine. Notice the look on Gutte's face in two scenes near the end, when he looks back at Eli and Milli with a trace of disgust, or when he finds "little Altman" with his favorite prostitute. 10/10