Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
for a new immigrant from Europe and his commitment to his country and the Palmach;
The
Eagles Attack at Dawn
(Menahem Golan, 1970), in which an Israeli commando group is sent to
Syria to rescue captive Israeli soldiers; and
Azit, the Paratrooper Dog
(Boaz Davidson, 1972), in
which the canine protagonist carries out heroic missions beyond enemy lines.
Modernist Cinema
In the mid-1960s a new type of fi lm, infl uenced by European modernist cinema, was intro-
duced to the Israeli public. This “new sensibility” style was a reaction against the “death ethos”
and “martyrology” of fi lms that focused so heavily on death, battle, and self-sacrifi ce for people
and country.
One leader of this Israeli “new wave” was David Perlov, who in 1963 made
In Jerusalem
, a
forty-minute documentary directed with a unique and lyrical style; it was composed of shots
of stonemasons, beggars, children playing with his camera, peddlers, and people from differ-
ent groups. Unintentionally, the fi lm caused a scandal, since Perlov “dared” to fi lm beggars.
Because the fi lm gave what was considered an “unsuitable” portrait of the holy city, Israeli of-
fi cials opposed its release. Only after Prime Minister Levy Eshkol became involved could the
fi lm be screened.
The second leader of Israeli modernist cinema was Uri Zohar, actor, director, and come-
dian. His
A Hole in the Moon
(1965) is one of the most experimental Israeli fi lms ever made.
The fi lm starts with Zohar himself as Zelnik, a Zionist pioneer who arrives in Israel on a raft,
dressed in a suit, drinking whiskey, and smoking a cigar. He then goes to the desert and opens
a kiosk in the middle of nowhere and yells, “Lemonade!” The scene refers to the well-known
story of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's fi rst prime minister, who while touring the southern Negev
stopped in the middle of nowhere, looked around, pointed at the sand, and announced, “Here
a city will rise.”
Zelnik wakes up in the morning only to fi nd another kiosk, just opposite his, whose owner
is Mizrahi. The two decide to make a Western movie. Their movie includes a documentary
episode, cinema verité style, in which Zohar auditions young women aspiring to be actresses,
parodies passionate Zionist speeches, and presents three Arabs who beg to be portrayed as the
“good guys” and sing a Zionist song. In another scene women wait in line to enter a tent and
then exit pregnant in order to increase the national birthrate. The fi lm ends with its two fi lm-
within-a-fi lm makers being executed by the angry women, who have been pregnant for eleven
months and have yet to give birth.
Later, Zelnik's and Mizrahi's ghosts stand opposite their graves. A lone horseman (poten-
tially either an Arab or a Zionist pioneer) rides toward them and shoots the ghosts. Then a
Jesus-like shepherd walks on water and sinks. An end title reads, “This is the end (of the Zion-
ist vision?).” Ironically, in a uniquely Israeli twist, Zohar himself later gave up performing and
became a Haredi Jew.
A Hole in the Moon
was the fi rst Israeli fi lm to criticize the Zionist vision, which it com-
pared to a chaotic studio. In the spirit of the French New Wave, the actors improvised; the
camera was hand-held; the references were cinematic; the editing was swift and associative;
and the overall atmosphere was free-spirited and joyful.
A Hole in the Moon
was the pioneer
“auteur” fi lm in Israel— that is, it was a personal fi lm with a wildly idiosyncratic style.
