SYNOPSICS
Ha-Hesder (2000) is a Hebrew movie. Joseph Cedar has directed this movie. Aki Avni,Tinkerbell,Idan Alterman,Assi Dayan are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2000. Ha-Hesder (2000) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Is today's fanaticism tomorrow's policy? In a West Bank settlement, Rabbi Meltzer has a grand design: he's building a movement "to pray at the Temple Mount." His yeshiva has scholars, and the settlement is getting its own military company to be commanded by Menachem, a disciple of the rabbi. He also wants his daughter, Michal, to marry Pini, the yeshiva's best scholar. Michal has no interest in Pini, but she is attracted to Menachem. When she rebuffs Pini, he hatches a bold and secret plan. Is jealousy the motivation or something else? Meanwhile, the army and Mossad are closely watching the rabbi's activities and Menachem's military training. Who is trustworthy?
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Ha-Hesder (2000) Reviews
Love Triangle???
We saw this film on Friday night @ one of Chgo's premiere "art" theaters (the Landmark @ Century Center). There were maybe a dozen people in the audience besides us. Too bad. With all the horrible things going on this weekend (Easter Weekend 2002 with Arafat surrounded by Israeli troops in Ramallah is retaliation for the terrorist murder of Passover celebrants in Netanya) few films could be more relevant! But I think if you see a "love triangle" in this film, you are really missing the point. SPOILER ALERT!!! (Stop reading now if you don't want to know critical plot points!!!) Pini does not "love" Michal; Pini loves her father Rabbi Meltzer & he desperately wants the Rabbi's approval. Rabbi Meltzer intends to give Michal to Pini as a prize, signifying that Pini is his best student & probable successor. For Michal, this is just further proof that her father has no interest in her as a "person." He will easily sacrifice her to his own needs, just as he sacrificed her mother. When Michal rejects Pini, he feels humiliated in the eyes of the Rabbi & the community, & therefore he does something desperate to prove himself to the Rabbi. The model here is THE ILIAD. Achilles does not "love" Briceas (sp?) -- she is his war booty, his prize. When she is taken from him, his warrior pride is offended. It is "the wrath of Achilles" that destroys the city of Troy & Pini is filled with the same wrath. Why is this important? Because right now we all desperately need to understand the psychology of suicide bombers. In almost every case, suicide bombers are young men who need to prove themselves to their fanatical male mentors. They don't live in societies in which women & the love of women are valued. A glorious death is more important than an ordinary human life (his own included). When Itamar freezes & wants to reach out for his wife, Pini is scornful & disgusted with him. Menachem loves Michal & because he loves her, he is able to renounce the zealot's life, exchange it for the life of a mench (in Yiddish, a "real" >whole human being). She opens his eyes to what is actually being asked of him by Rabbi Meltzer -- Rabbi Meltzer doesn't just want Menachem to give up Michal, he wants Menachem to give up his humanity, to give his life to "the will of God" (as interpreted by Rabbi Meltzer, of course). Bottomline: Because Menachem sees Michal AS A PERSON, he retains his humanity. Because Pini sees Michal AS AN OBJECT, he becomes an instrument of destruction. Bye now, Jan @ Films for Two
Israel's Nominee to the Academy Awards is One Part Romance, One Part Action and another Part Politics
Joseph Cedar's directing debut garnered the Israeli Academy Award and early Academy Foriegn Film recognition for a good reason. It is a good film. Unlike recent Israeli exports, Haesder or Time of Favor as it is titled in English is technically superb and fluid in how it delivers its story line. The very talented Aki Avni plays Menachem, a religious soldier. He is a disciple of his local rabbi who believes in settling areas in Jerusalem that are in conflict. The rabbi is played by Israeli actor/director and son of war hero Moshe Dayan- Asi Dayan. The rabbi promises his daughter to another of his disciples and a friend of Menachem's- a religious scholar named Pini. Meanwhile a love triangle develops. Inrtigue and action come into play and the end culminates with brilliant rhythmn and suspense. The film is shot superbly considering its relative low budget and the production value is high. Many of the military sequencesand scenes are reminiscent of THREE KINGS, and the score is Yanni-esque and adds a middle eastern flavor to this politically significant and turbulent movie. I reccomend this movie highly without reservations. It should be seen, I saw it in a large movie theatre and was moved as was the rest of the audience.
Complex Or Unfocused ?
The TV guide described TIME OF FAVOUR as thus: " A rabbi's daughter must choose between the man she loves and the man her father wants her to marry " So I sat down to watch a movie that I expected to be a romantic drama , and being an Israeli film I also expected to see some secular Vs religious politics . But this isn't what I got . For the most part the story does indeed play out as a love triangle between the rabbi's daughter on one hand and two friends in the IDF on another , but then about two thirds of the way through it becomes clear that this is a political thriller featuring a bomb plot not too different from something Bruce Willis might have appeared in several years ago . When I say becomes clear I mean after one of the character's gets a bloody good kicking off the Shin Bett , up to this point I was asking myself where on Earth the movie was heading There's two ways of looking at this . One is that TIME OF FAVOR is a highly complex film , the other being that it's a highly unfocused one . I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it's complex one . It should also be pointed out that if you have absolutely no knowledge or interest of Israeli politics or culture clash you will be at a loss trying to understand this movie , though it's difficult to imagine someone watching a movie in Hebrew - albeit in subtitles - who doesn't have any interest in Israel
A good movie, and a very impressive directing debut
Ha-Hesder was the first feature movie of Yossi Cedar, a young Israeli director. It deals with the first steps of two young religious Zionists in adult society. Both characters - Pini and Menachem - are students in a "Hesder" school of Jewish studies. The "Hesder" (lit. arrangement) is the name given to a special kind of school, enabling students who wish both to perform their army duty and to continue their post-high-school Jewish education to remain even in the army within relatively homogeneous units, exposed less than the average soldier to the "dangerous" secular sphere. One of the young men, Menahem (Aki Avni in a good performance), has grown to be an infantry officer, the commander of a platoon. Lately, following some string-pulling by the Hesder's charismatic Rabbi Meltzer (brilliant acting of Assi Dayan), he has been given a platoon of highly-motivated Hesder soldiers. This causes some headaches for the Israeli secret service, who suspect that Rabbi Mettzer's extremist ideas now have the means to be realized. The other guy, Pini (Idan Altermann, also in a good performance), cannot enlist due to an illness, but is considered the brilliant mind and R. Meltzer plans a great Rabbinic future for him. The script uses a romantic tension (watch Tinkerbell as Michal in very good acting!) to lead these two friends on their very different tracks. Political, religious and romantic energies combine to produce an effective, albeit predictable, storyline. This is a very impressive cinematic debut. Cedar grew up as a religious Zionist, but from a very liberal and academic milieu and this ambivalence and intimate knowledge with the subject matter lends the acting great credibility, acknowledged even by many religious friends of mine who did not really like the plot. The scenery is beautiful, especially the desert hills of Kfar Adumim, the shooting location halfway between Jericho and Jerusalem.
Israel as it is
This film is another in a wave of films from Israel that show the gritty reality of life there. Kippur showed us just how bloody and fruitless the 1973 war with the Arabs was (the scene of three medics trying to move one wounded soldier over a muddy field sticks in my mind as a symbol of futility), Late Marriage showed how hard it is for the children of immigrants to find their way in a secular society--Zaza, the central character is falling apart under the pressure of compliance with traditional precepts governing courtship, marriage and divorce. The character of Rabbi Meltzer seems to be based on Meir Kahane, the dangerously charismatic and violent leader. People are just pawns in a chess game for this man, and if his family doesn't comply with his wishes he'll find others who will. It's fascinating to see Michal, his daughter, start to assert her individuality after a lifetime of conformity with her father's wishes. The first indication of rebellion takes place on a mountainside overlooking the kibbutz where she grew up; she tells a bitter story of neglect and indifference to human needs that is very touching. Tinkerbell and Aki Avni are very good; Assi Dayan as the Rabbi is outstanding in his deviousness cloaked in moral fervor.