Nesher’s Image of Victory, on Netflix

For the Israelis, the Battle of Nitzanim was their greatest loss during their victorious War of Independence. For the Egyptians, it was a tactically meaningless victory, but it was carefully documented by a newsreel crew, to distract from the sting of losing the war. Despite their differences, both losses brought great national trauma. The battle and its surrounding circumstances are vividly brought to life in Avi Nesher’s Image of Victory, which starts streaming tomorrow on Netflix.

Residents of the Nitzanim kibbutz are keenly aware of its precarious location, so they constantly petition the military for greater defenses. Of course, such resources will be stretched thin after the Declaration of 1948. Both the residents and the garrisoned military personnel are about as rag-tag as it got in Israel’s early days. Many among the Defense Force had recently enlisted their way out of prison, joining several Holocaust survivors, both within their ranks and living at the kibbutz.

Mira Ben-Ari is the free-spirit of Nitzanim, but the European émigré is also a true believer in the kibbutz system. She has control of Nitzanim’s sole radio, so when Avraham Schwarzstein, the garrison commander, wants to run an operation, he has to take her with him. However, she can shoot.

Literally yards away, virulently anti-Semitic (CUNY calls it “anti-Zionism”) Egyptian journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is embedded in a hostile Arab village, first with a squad of volunteer militia, and then with the official Egyptian army, once it declares war. The real army could take Nitzanim at any time, but such small potatoes are not worth their time and resources—until it becomes clear Egypt will lose this war—embarrassingly badly. King Farouk demands a “victory” Hassanein’s crew can package into face-saving propaganda for the Egyptian public. That was Nitzanim, but something about the way Ben-Ari conducted herself defending her home haunts Hassanein up until the in media res opening, set during the Camp David Accords.

Image is not unjustly described as an “anti-war” film, but it is somewhat unusual in that it critiques the war from both Israeli and Egyptian standpoints. Arab supremacists like Hassanein clearly wanted to pursue war to prosecute their prejudices, regardless of the human costs. Similarly, some of the Israeli hardliners (often “political officers” modeled on their Soviet counterparts) were too willing to sacrifice isolated settlers, like the Nitzanim kibbutzers, for “the greater good.”

NYJFF ’17: Past Life

Pop music is all very catchy, but it is out of its depth responding to events of great enormity. However, classical chorale music is perfectly suited for grand elegiac concerts. As a composer of such music, Ella Milch-Sheriff would find inspiration within her own family. A somewhat fictionalized version of their story unfolds in Avi Nesher’s Past Life (trailer here) which screens during the 2017 New York Jewish Film Festival.

Sephi Milch (as she is called in Nesher’s screenplay) is a chorale student in an Israeli conservatory who harbors ambitions of composing, but is too mousy to stand up to the sexist dean. During a concert in West Germany, Milch is rather stunned when an elderly woman accosts her, accusing her father, Dr. Baruch Milch of murder. To make it even more awkward, she happens to be the mother of famous German-Polish chorale composer Thomas Zielinski.

For various reasons (including her father’s often excessive discipline), Milch cannot dismiss the encounter, so she takes her sister Nana Milch-Kotler into her confidence. Having an even more fraught relationship with their father, the leftwing journalist assumes there must be some truth to it. With varying degrees of reluctance and enthusiasm, the two sisters start investigating their father’s past. As word of their inquiries reaches Dr. Milch, he offers to reconstruct the lost diary of the years he spent hiding in the Zielinski farm. However, the combination of Milch-Kotler’s lingering doubts and accumulated bad karma might produce tragic results for the Milch family.

The significance of setting the film in 1977 should not be lost on anyone, but Nesher does not belabor the parallels between the thaw with Sadat and the efforts of Sephi Milch and Thomas Zielinski to reconcile their parents. Indeed, it is richly detailed period production that evokes both the good and the bad of the era. For added authenticity, the haunting piece performed during the climax really was composed by Ella Milch-Sheriff.

Joy Rieger is rather remarkable as the initially naïve and submissive Sephi Milch. Her expressive face is like an open book. Nelly Tagar brings more attitude and angst as the razor-sharp but profoundly sad Milch-Kotler. Doron Tavory deftly walks a fine line as Dr. Milch, establishing his severity as a parent, but also a deep sense of his fundamentally decent but scarred psyche. Yet, Rafael Stachowiak might be the film’s X-factor as the constantly surprising Thomas Zielinski.

With Past Life, Nesher further burnishes his well-earned reputation as a filmmaker of great sensitivity. It is also a characteristic example of his affinity for historical dramas that reflect the Israeli national experience through more or less average people (this is particularly true of The Matchmaker). Nesher and his frequent cinematographer Michel Abramowicz (who also shot the first Taken film) have a knack for making a picture look nostalgic, but also darkly moody. Recommended for those who appreciate thematically sophisticated dramas and chorale music, Past Life screens Sunday (1/15) and Monday (1/16) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s NYJFF.

NJJFF, etc: The Secrets

In 1577, Safed, one of the Four Holy Cities of Judaism, became the site of the first printing press of the entire Ottoman Empire. Long venerated as a seat of mystical learning, Safed also has a strong klezmer music scene, all of which provides an intriguing backdrop for Avi Nesher’s latest film, The Secrets, (trailer here), an examination of gender issues and traditional authority in Orthodox culture, which screens at three separate Tri-State film festivals over the next few days.

Young Noemi’s faith is strong, but her life is plagued with emptiness. After her mother’s death, she convinces her learned rabbi father to postpone her marriage to a sanctimonious fiancé, allowing her to enroll in a Midrasha, a seminary for young women founded by Orthodox feminists. There in Safed, the bookish Noemi, able to quote long passages of sacred texts from memory, is thrown together with three perfectly mismatched roommates, including the rebellious Michal, a spoiled rich girl from France. To Noemi’s annoyance, the two women are both assigned to serve a new client for their Midrasha’s meals-for-shut-ins program: Anouk a notorious but aging French-speaking murderess.

Hardly an innocent victim, Anouk really did murder her lover in a crime of passion. Facing her own impending mortality, the older woman desperately seeks spiritual redemption from the unsympathetic religious authorities of Safed. Against her own better judgment, Noemi delves into Kabala, looking for an impossible tikun: a cleansing ritual for the sin of murder.

Unlike most contemporary films, Secrets treats concepts like sin and redemption with absolute sincerity. It is at its strongest when portraying the relationship between the two younger women and the ailing Anouk, played by the distinguished French actress Fanny Ardant. The ancient walls of Safed function almost like another character, effectively heightening the film’s aura of metaphysical mystery. However, the development of a problematic lesbian relationship between Noemi and Michal does not really cover any new territory not previously seen in other films about homosexuality in traditional societies, including the Orthodox documentary, Trembling Before G-D.

Nesher helms the film with admirable restraint and sensitivity, while cinematographer Michel Abramowicz invests the action with a warm, mysterious glow. The cast is quite credible, including the great Ardant, and the memorable Adir Miller, as Yanki, the tragically likable klezmer clarinetist, who becomes Noemi’s rival for Michal’s affections.

Along with other recent film imports, like The Band’s Visit and Jellyfish, Secrets well represents the increasing diversity of contemporary Israeli filmmaking. While the drama between Noemi and Michal eventually gets a bit over-wrought, the film is a handy corrective for those who exclusively associate Kabala with trendy red bracelets. It screens Wed. (3/18) at the Hartford Jewish Film Festival, Sat. (3/21) at the Rockland Jewish Film Festival, and Mon. (3/22) and Sun. (3/22) at the New Jersey Jewish Film Festival.