Movie interlude

Tonight we watched a film on DVD -- once again friends tried to help me become more in tune with my culture.

Actually, maybe that last thought is wrong. I am not at all sure what culture Walk on Water pictures. Made by the U.S.-born Israeli moviemaker Eytan Fox, with sub-titled dialogue in Hebrew, German and English, the movie is the story of a German girl who moves to a Israeli kibbutz, her gay brother who picks up a hot Palestinian, and a Mossad agent whose job is to execute their Nazi grandfather. No shit.

There can be no doubt about Fox' good intentions. According to the movie's web site:

The filmmakers believe that the fact that Israelis are still so obsessed with the Holocaust and their status as victims renders them blind to the fact they themselves have become aggressors, imposing pain and suffering on the Palestinians. The filmmakers believe that the first step in helping the Israelis understand how cruel they themselves have become lies in making some kind of peace with their own traumatic past.

This seems like a little more purpose than so slight a vehicle was able to carry. The story is certainly not traumatic. The ending was, accurately, described by a sympathetic New York Times reviewer as "cloying."

Still there was much beauty to look at, especially Knut Berger as the gay boy. No surprises made me cringe. Walk on Water filled an enjoyable, though slightly absurd, hour and a half.