Directed by: Amos Gitai (written by same…the which makes him an auteur or at least a raconteur, since he was evidently in some engagement of the 1973 Yom Kippur War of the same name of the title of which). Starring (?): Liron Levo, Tomer Ruso, Uri Ran, Julian Merr, Yoram Hattab.
This is the third of three flicks I caught about various Israeli wars (Lebanon about the 1982 incursion if we’ve decided to call it that; Beaufort about the 2000 invasion if that’s the word; now Kippur about the 1973 what thuh f…? since evidently the normally-prepared Israelis got caught with their sandals covered, as the Testament has it, on that one), all filmed within a few years of each other, though I cannot find a single ac-toor from one to the other, that is an Israeli who figures across the three (unless Kornbluth Halevi and Halevi Kornbluth are really the same guy…). Dunno what that means. Perhaps that these things are all filmed as therapy by which individuals exorcize personal memory and not as art, since for the most part, they’re not entertaining and, in the case of this one at least, not what I’d call good cinema: Reenactment about the best I can do for it, allthemoreso since the characters on screen seem to have the same names as the vedettes and possibly doing what they did back when. With such a small precinct and so small a population and such perdurable recollection, hardly seems necessary to remind Israel of her conflicts or, in view of the reiteration of same, the likelihood of another.
Sadly, though it may be only the perception of a Gringo dummy here, since most young Israelis have dark hair, dark eyes, three-day stubble (acquired at birth apparently), it’s hard to tell the soldiers apart since they seem to have in this scenario virtually the same personality, that is to say… none. The anonymity of the soldierly caste? Facelessness of battle? Intertcrossransmutability of identity? The ant in the iron filings? The only distinguishable figure here is the doctor, Klauzner, whom you can mark by his Drew Carey glasses and paunch, fruit doubtless of the strain imposed by medical studies where you squint at those little vesicle thingies and memorize arcane Latin terms for, like, regular stuff (sputum < Latin, sputum; mucus < Latin, mucus; anus < Latin anus; pus < Latin pusus and on and on).
For the most part, no women, a shame since most of us can still remember fondly Senta Berger in (and out of) her regulation short-shorts (and just who designed that uniform for Hagganah fee-males?) from Cast a Giant Shadow (poor thing bulked up later and had to be strapped into a specially made cantilevered bathing suit for To Catch a Thief, thus is the glory of flesh fleeting) though Yoram (unless he’s the one gets killed, or Tomer if he isn’t) straggles home (drives home, actually, for such is the nature of this war—the breadth of Israel, the proximity of her foreign borders—that the reservists drive to the combat zone, park the Sentra, then shuttle back home after) to find his (short-shorted) wife doing yoga, an engagement that prepares her if not us for the “art” scenes which enclose the action in parentheses of two limber bodies, one male, one fee-male, entwined in erotic embrace but slathered with droozly colored oil paint, the meaning of which is clearly… whaa? The Persistence of Mammary (Urf! Urf!)?
Anyhow. Asleep at the shtick, the Israelis get their butt handed them in the initial days of this war. Hastily mobilizing (after the fact, as I get it), they call up Yoram, Liron, Klauzner. These guys plop into the family see-dan and skate vaguely toward the front, missing by a whisker the deployment of their infantry unit. Oh, rats. Trained somehow as medics (stretcher-bearers, looks more like to me) they hitch up with a medivac unit and their buddy, the chopper pilot, Tomer (or t’other way around if I have the names wrong on account of everybody have curly black hair and three-day stubble). I look, listen in vain for some sort of urgency in their conduct, passion in their commitment, either toward the larger issue of menace from invading Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Nigerians, Mexicans and who-all else or toward the mangled, shredded bodies they hoist up, freight to the thup-thupping chopper, fly off toward a muddy aid station and salvation. Here’s where, I think, the want of cinematic art does disservice to the message: seems to be no editing, so that we splatter through the mud toward trenches strewn with the aftermath of a fight, sling a wounded guy onto a litter, hoist him on shoulders, then lug him through puddles, over logs, across fields, through rubble, beside burnt-out combat vehicles, under shattered copses of some kinda Mediterranean tree, along rushing torrents, above, beyond, down, from among, anunder and on and on… and on… almost in real time, more in documentary mode than cinema (hand-held at that), and over and over… and over. I found myself wanting to fast forward till something happen. Endless shots of some one of these guys (black curly hair tousling, dark eyes lost in stoic absorption, three-day stubble a-bristle) registering the horror (or its ultimate banality) impassively as the image hangs and hangs and hangs on the screen… and hangs. I’m ready to accept the loving caress of the camera’s dwell on these likely-repeated scenes of battle as planned and deliberate (trauma provoked by durance in battle, numbness occasioned by its insistent and relentless brutality, inability of human beings to respond after a certain exposure to… yeah, yeah, except here, clumsy Gringo I am, I can’t shake the impression the guy just plain ol’ vanilla do not know how to make a movie, or edit film at any rate).
Well, we do retrieve our buds from the muck and gore of the battlefield. But, whoa, buddy… we take a hit and go down in our Huey (flockin’ Jordanians—or one of that bunch—shoot at a medivac chopper, the skunks). Musta been a rocket, we surmise, since it spattered our guys with shrap. The doc (evidently the Israelis have enough of them to use as chase medics for helo rescue) catches one, too, and we see him, last humanitarian impulse, imploring the aid station workers to look after the others: “Yoram has a heliotropic subdural hematoma… on his butt… cough… cough… urgh…”). It’s hard to fault sincerity, intensity, the sting of actual lived trauma, maybe even lived speech (erlebte Rede), what’s at stake here. It’s just that Kippur isn’t a very good movie (does not mean it’s not worth watching, just that… well, be advised). That brings into cause the purpose of making movies, which, in the view of this scion of the fifties, is to move (motion, after all, picture) while moving (emotion), a tricky push-me-pull-you. For that, you need at the least distinguishable if not always believable (remember the willing suspension of…) characters in whose fate or from whose discomfiture we can read lessons for our own life and some sort of story, journey, discovery upon which we can embark in mind’s eye, fancying how we’d respond to obstacles and passions (those revelations and reversals Whatzis-name spoke of so long ago). Kippur is a retrieval (much like the retrieval of wounded soldiers depicted: some live, some do not… this one do not), unembellished, unencumbered by confection or creation, perhaps faithful (looks thataway to me) and for that reason if for no other useful. But not entertaining… AF
Mebbe not, but this is... pl
Did the Egyptians run out of SAGGERS?
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 31 October 2011 at 09:56 AM
I suppose too many Israelis were involved in these actions to allow any artistic license, including editing.
It's like the complaints that Iraq veterans had over the inaccuracies of The Hurt Locker, or Vietnam vets had about Apocalypse Now.
If the population has "too many" vets, those complaints drown out the movie.
Posted by: Green Zone Cafe | 31 October 2011 at 10:35 AM
GZC
Nah. "Apocalypse Now" is re-worked Conrad and FMJ is something different and better but not the real war. "Hamburger Hill" just kills me. "Are you happy now Blackjack? You killed my company." The words will never leave me. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 31 October 2011 at 05:50 PM
'Persistence of Mammaries?' LOL Alan, how long have you been waiting to pull that one on us?
Fwiw, since you're on this tangent, better add Waltz With Bashir to the queue, and Sabra/Shatila to your historical timeline of Israeli naval gazing - although be warned you won't find any comely gurlz in this animated flick.
Posted by: Roy G. | 31 October 2011 at 06:05 PM
It seems the only people who make worse war movies than the Israelis are the Iranians, and that's sayin' a lot.
FWIW I tried watching both Beaufort and Kippur. I lasted about ten minutes into each film. Garbage.
Entertaining review here, though, Mr. Farrell
Colonel, you ever seen 84C MoPic?
Posted by: Pirouz | 31 October 2011 at 06:52 PM
The Best Part of this whole Thing..was Reading Your Review of it...with My Three Day Stubble...Urf Urf..
Q..what about the Movie "We Were Soldiers.."..?
Q.Whats the Best..Most Accurate Combat Movie you ever Saw.
Posted by: Jim Ticehurst | 31 October 2011 at 07:01 PM
WRC,
Uh, was that a reference to PL's inserted photo? If so, grossly unfair. I submit they're not so saggy.
Posted by: Basilisk | 31 October 2011 at 07:22 PM
PL,
Can you get your faithful reviewer to take a shot at something of a different genre? How about, uh Ilse, She-Wolf of the SS or some such classic? Maybe something with gurlz?
So far, the only thing stimulating about these movies is those comely bonnets from Beaufort. More pulchritude, please.
Posted by: Basilisk | 31 October 2011 at 07:27 PM
Basilisk
Saggy, Laura Linney? My God! pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 31 October 2011 at 07:54 PM
Who is the lady? That image reinforces my belief that if cheesecake were more realistic -- in terms of the women depicted and their demeanor -- it would be much more effective.
Posted by: Larry Kart | 31 October 2011 at 07:58 PM
Jim T.
"Master and Commander" was the best I ever saw on naval war. "Saving Private Ryan" made me into a vegetable for a couple of months. I think that "Band of Brothers" was the best. "Farewell to the king" is the best UW movie. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 31 October 2011 at 08:02 PM
PL,
This is the first I've heard of "Farewell to the King." It does look good. Not sure if you caught the PBS Secrets of the Dead episode of "The Airmen and the Headhunters." It's a true story at least as remarkable as "Farewell to the King." A B-24 crew is rescued by a tribe of headhunters in Borneo. An Australian team also joins the headhunters to encourage them to fight the Japanese. Great Story.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1327179571
BTW, I always enjoyed "Cross of Iron" and "Glory."
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 31 October 2011 at 08:42 PM
AT3 Sagger or the bane of Western main battle tanks in the mid 1970s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vODsZoHoxqA
Posted by: Neil Richardson | 31 October 2011 at 08:46 PM
TTG
A headhunters song at the "Rising of the Moon" in the days of high adventure. "Forward the Colors!" pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 31 October 2011 at 08:52 PM
Ah those puffy helmet covers. At first I thought they were fans of some futbol club like the East Side Shitakes (like the Green Bay cheese heads). Actually, I think they make some tactical sense. Sitting in an outpost with your helmeted head exposed to fire, it might be nice to have something to break up your silhouette. Think of it as a cheap ass ghillie suit for your head.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 31 October 2011 at 08:53 PM
I highly recommend Jean-Pierre Melville's French Resistance movie, "Army of Shadows."
Posted by: Larry Kart | 31 October 2011 at 09:03 PM
"Das Boot" is the best movie of naval warfare IMO. The genre suffers horribly from slim pickings, because of all the great books about the days of sail could not be profitably turned into movies until the advent of CGI. The sea and camera crews just flat don't get along.
BTW, about half way between Russell Crowe and Jürgen Prochnow, would be my mental image of Claude Devereux.
Posted by: Mark Logan | 31 October 2011 at 09:17 PM
Col..Thanks for the Response..I agree with the list..."Master and Commander" was Dynamic..a Great Story That Draws you in..
"Saving Private Ryan" still has the same Impact on me as You..ever time I see it..Nothing overdone..Just makes War look like Hell for any Human to Endure..and how it Impacts different People.. at different Levels..
I have all of the 'Band of Brothers" Movie CD's..
They do The Best Job of making Real WW-2 Infantry Combat Squad Exxperiences I have see..
"I can understand why you selected "Farwell to the King"..with Your Own background and Nam experiences.. I just found the Movie Trailer..of it and Nick Nolte's Role..Many reviews under it say it was a Very Under Rated movie with a Powerful Ending..
I am Glad You Came Back Home Pat..Thank You for all of Your Service..I Have Touched "The WALL" with Reverence..
Posted by: Jim Ticehurst | 31 October 2011 at 09:32 PM
LK! Agree with ARMY of Shadows as terrific. But for combat like the two epics by the Russians of WAR and Peace with thousands, hundreds of thousands, participants. And maybe the Alexander Nevsky epic also. WOW! Wondering if Adolph Shickelgruber watched those? Before WWII of course.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 01 November 2011 at 04:33 AM
And PL my eyes are fading so need larger pics!
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 01 November 2011 at 04:34 AM
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Thnk yr right. French admitted after WWI that whole mobilized culture precluded heroes, obviated need to recount war (though any numer of authors did it well).
The casting around for medium to retrieve horror has led us to some really great art, some sad failures. Hard to deny the failures, though, in name of necessary enterprise. Anyhow. Thanks fr comment. AFF
Posted by: FarrellAF | 01 November 2011 at 04:58 AM
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I msuta missed orig of this, but Farewell the K is a French novel written by same guy made Anderson Platoon and La 317ieme section, best war film I know and
worth the watch (I’ll see if can find my review and post). Attaching my review of Master. All best, AFF
Posted by: FarrellAF | 01 November 2011 at 05:00 AM
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L’armée des ombres, novel sequence in Fr and quite good (as ever, better to read than watch, alas). Seen Uranus, also Fr? AFF
Posted by: FarrellAF | 01 November 2011 at 05:03 AM
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Child of the 40’s I grew up on Run Silent, Run Deep and Enemy Below, both of which great as flick and appear (to landlubber at least) plausibly authentic.
Das Boot (sometimes called Das Butt o/a/o seaminess) gritty realism I take faithful to WWII submariner experience. My colleagues here at VMI submariners seem to be less gritty bunch if that betoken change in undersea environment/culture. My old man a deepwater
sailor WWII (Mom do not put his picture on wall…). AFF
Posted by: FarrellAF | 01 November 2011 at 05:08 AM
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I have seen MoPic, curious little flick I’d place with the ones about the guy in the squad retrieving combat by writing about it. Frist instance of I recall
in Barbusse’ Le feu, where the writer/retriever engages in debate about profanity as nec to the faithful depiction of soldier existence in soldier words. I’ll try post my older review of La 317ieme section, my cand for best war flick ever. All best, AFF
Posted by: FarrellAF | 01 November 2011 at 05:13 AM