Dir: Amos Gitai | Israel, Drama 87’
Trying not to tread on anyone’s toes Amos Gitai’s latest is timely, in the context of Hamas’ attack on Israel, but offers no answer.
Why War is a question without a question mark, a rhetorical question. And well it might be. Like those who frame every statement as a question, this opens a debate that is timeless and inconclusive, so what’s the point.
As an Israeli Jew, and there are plenty of Israeli Muslims, Gitai is fully aware of the tiny country, the size of Wales, is surrounded on all sides with few friends in its vicinity. So it feels understandably vulnerable and permanently ready for attack in these continuously turbulent times
The title gets its name from regular correspondence between Jewish luminaries Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud in 1932. But even these great minds where unable to unearth a cogent answer to this age old conundrum, albeit providing much food for thought.
In Tel Aviv, during an outdoor yoga class we witness the many posters bearing the faces of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on that fateful day in October 2023. This serves as a permanent reminder to those going about their daily lives that some innocent citizens are still in captivity somewhere.
To live in Israel is to be in a constant state of flux with war a constant possibility, and with soldiers, both male and female, ever-present in cafes, bars and malls. Each Israeli does military service from the age of 18 and Gitai was no different, so naturally his work and films such as Kippur (2000) is suffused and informed by this experience and this mulls over the same territory but brings nothing really new to the party that plods on philosophically hoping for the best but always preparing for the worst. @MeredithTaylor
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2024 | OUT OF COMPETITION