¶ … cinematic image of the Sabra beginning with the early Zionist films, through the national-heroic mode, and ending with the critical attitude of the late 1970s and 1980s
The 1955 film Hill 24 Doesn't Answer is one of the first products of Israeli cinema. It is meant to be a stirring portrait of the new Jewish state. It dramatizes the then-recent war of independence. The film shows the war bringing together Jews of disparate backgrounds, all united by the need to defend Israel. "In Israeli culture, the figure of the Sabra" during the time period when Hill was made was considered a kind of ideal national type, exemplifying the new Jewish attitude that was free from fear and persecution (Avisar 132). The national ideal of a state that could triumph against all odds and was strong, both spiritually and militarily, is conveyed by the film through the physical strength and determination of the soldiers.
In one scene, one of the soldiers confronts a Nazi who uses the fact that he is a prisoner of war as his defense, and hides behind the words that 'he was just following orders.' He begs for forgiveness in an attempt to preserve his life. The silent Israeli soldier shows tremendous strength and power in the scene over the man, embodying how the new Israel can never be beholden to anti-Semites again. The group of soldiers fighting for Israel is remarkable for its diversity, and collectively they symbolize the multinational unity of the new Jewish state.
Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, although sensitively directed, is fundamentally a heroic war film. However, as Israel grew more established as a nation, its cinematic culture began to move beyond the purely patriotic and adopt a slightly more critical lens. For example, the 'cult classic' Israeli film Charlie Ve'hetzi (1974) takes a far more deflationary view of Israel. It portrays the central character Charlie as a ne'er do-well but likeable con man who plays three-card Monte to make a living. Virtually every other word out of Charlie's mouth is a lie, as he tries to pass himself off as rich and successful. He is a bad influence on a young boy who admires him and hangs out with Charlie instead of going to...
Walking on Water: Film Interpretation The protagonist Eyal of the film Walking on Water (2004) is a member of Israel's secret service organization, the Mossad. This is communicated in the first scene of the film, which depicts an apparently ordinary family in a boat. Suddenly, Eyal kills the father of the family with a lethal injection. The audience is immediately predisposed not to like Eyal, until they discover that he is
' Indians across the political spectrum, especially the country's powerful nuclear weapons establishment, are critical of the NPT, arguing that it unfairly warps international hierarchies to the disadvantage of the non-nuclear-weapon states" (1998:15). In its efforts to balance the pressures from the international community with its own self-interests in formulating foreign policies, the position adopted by India has been starkly different than other countries. In this regard, Karp concludes that,
Holocaust affected Israeli society and culture and how Jews memorialize/Remember it today There exists no doubt regarding the massacre of the Jews during the phase of World War II and its impact on the lives of the Jewish people and the people who were near and dear to them. A dissention is required against those who assert that the tragedy never occurred, irrespective of whether they hold an opposite perspective
Cold War and Film Generally speaking, the Cold War has been depicted as an era of spy games and paranoia in popular films from the 1960s to the present day, but the reality of the era was much more complex. The Cold War was a period of military and political tension from 1947 to 1991, or from the end of WW2 to the collapse of the Soviet Union, in which
Waltz With Bashir (Vals Im Bashir) is a 2008 Israeli animated autobiographical docudrama by Ari Folman that is based on his experiences as a soldier during the First Lebanon War in 1982. The film is directed, written, and produced by Ari Folman, who also stars in the film as himself (Folman, 2008; IMDB, n.d.). With a budget of approximately $1.5 million, the film has grossed approximately $2.1 million (Rotten Tomatoes,
What is certain from all three films is that technology essentially shapes the way in which modern stories are told. Abstraction and Cinematic Modernism Cinematic modernism, as defined by a certain purposeful ambiguity and a rather high level of abstraction, has become a prominent feature of many films made in the past several decades. Rather than making meaning less apparent in films through the lack of concrete and certain interpretations of
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