Death and Dying

Nechama (Consolation), directed by Edit Sheratzki, is a short drama (51 minutes) starring Rivka Michaeli and Gedalia Besser. I love this format of short dramas because after the screening, there is time for comments and discussion. This is a bittersweet and very intense story about the elderly and about our fear of death and dying.

Nechama wakes up one morning distraught and distracted. She is sure that this is the day that she is going to die. When she tells her husband about her premonition, he is sure that she is punishing him for an indiscretion that occurred many years before. But Nechama seems to be a woman who is sure of herself and she knows that today is the day.

Looking for love and consolation, she tries to contact her daughter Ruti, who lives abroad, and her busy grand-daughter Neta. Interning in a mental hospital, Neta works with a woman who wants to die, whereas Nechama is about to die and wants to live.

Instead of the attention that she craves, Nechama is offered disbelief and a request for family stories and insights (as in Tuesdays with Morrie).

Nechama (2010) is available from Hedva Goldshmidt at Go2Films.