The Dive
(Hatzlila)

Avoiding a self-evident documentary approach, Yona Rozenkier (who himself plays the role of Itai) has chosen the round-about route of fiction to bring together his two brothers, Yoel and Micha, in the kibbutz where they grew up and lived together for many years. Although the autobiographical stamp is clearly present (even in the naturalness with which each of them occupies the space), it is never used as an alibi or allowed to hijack the film. The virile tensions that play out in the bonds uniting the brothers as they gather for their father’s funeral is gradually mirrored by the portrait of a dying rural community on farmland near the Lebanese border. The weight of a rootedness whose initial convictions and values have been inexorably eroded, the threat of war (no enemy is ever shown) and the fear of a son, brother or friend dying in action feed into the slightly schizophrenic representation of a world midway between a hippy community and a military outpost. JB