On Tuesday evening, Israeli cinema fans who didn’t have big plans for Valentine’s Day gathered at the Goldsmith Family Cinema to watch “Broken Wings,” the first of six contemporary Israeli films to be screened for the Ring Family Wesleyan Israel Film Festival. The debut feature of writer-director Nir Bergman, “Broken Wings” delicately explores the dynamics of a middle-class family struggling to live together in the aftermath of a father’s death.
A small, solitary country, plagued by war, Israel has managed to create widely successful films both domestically and internationally in recent years. This growth in the Israeli film industry is due primarily to government funding that facilitates the annual production of several films. Films that are part of this new wave, like “Late Marriage,” “Yossi and Jagger,” and “Broken Wings,” do not explicitly take on political issues. They focus instead upon relationships between lovers and families. In a country where national identity and political turmoil are an integral part of life, it is interesting that the contemporary crop of Israeli films engages so indirectly with politics.
The event, cosponsored by the Jewish and Israel Studies and Film Studies Departments, ended with a question and answer session following the film with actress Maya Maron, who won an Israeli Academy Award for her performance in “Broken Wings.” Maron, who plays a dysfunctional teenager forced to care for her younger siblings, said that what appealed to her about the film was its ability to portray familial life on a universal level.
“Tragedies happen to everyone,” Maron said. “They force us to grow up. The film takes place in Israel, it is about life there, but it could have happened anywhere.”
Adjunct Instructor in Religion Dalit Katz, who introduced the event, said the films shown at the festival all deal with daily life in Israel. “Broken Wings,” along with the other films to be shown, focus on stories that do not have a political message and, as a result, are accessible across national lines.
As Maron touched upon during discussion, the decision to omit mention of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in “Broken Wings” has received international criticism. Domestic audiences, however, have embraced the breathing space.
“It is nice to have a taste of Israeli culture outside of politics,” said Rachel Berkowitz ’09. “There is so much focus on war and terrorism it is nice to have a chance to see what’s not in the news.”
Although the film never directly references the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Israel depicted in the film is a landscape of empty, graffiti-covered swimming pools and subways full of disconnected, suffering people. This is a story of struggle and misfortune placed within the context of a family whose members are survivors of sudden trauma and loss. The underlying message encourages redemption through forgiveness and understanding, a tacit allusion to the endless conflict between Israel and Palestine.
The ambiguous political stance of “Broken Wings” and the other contemporary films is perhaps the very reason for their success, both at home and abroad. By focusing on personal issues rather than national ones, the films enable audiences, especially Israelis, to connect with the emotional resonance of the story without having politics on their minds.
The Israeli Film Festival will continue next Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. with the acclaimed film “Walk on Water” and a discussion with screenwriter and co-producer Gal Uchovsky afterwards.
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