"World Cinema: Israel"

My book, "World Cinema: Israel" (originally published in 1996) is available from Amazon on "Kindle", with an in-depth chapter comparing and analyzing internationally acclaimed Israeli films up to 2010.

Want to see some of the best films of recent years? Just scroll down to "best films" to find listings of my recommendations.

amykronish@gmail.com

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Epilogue -- Hayuta and Berl


At the recent Jerusalem Film Festival, I had the chance to see the new Israeli feature film, Epilogue (Hebrew title: Hayuta and Berl) directed by Amir Manor.  The film, which has been chosen to be screened at the upcoming Venice Film Festival, is about the disillusionment of the aging visionaries of the founding generation and about the hardships of growing old. Berl is an old Labor Party supporter and activist and he believes that the new society that they worked so hard to build has been hijacked by others.   When Berel calls in to a radio talk show, the radio host tells him: "we have moved on" as if the old socialist values are no longer relevant.

The film provides a moving and intense look at an aging couple -- their hardships, physical ailments, disillusionments, humiliations and loneliness.  Hayuta and Berl's son and his family live in New York, and their friends are dying.

The viewer gets to know both of these characters in an in-depth way, due both to the moving acting and the hard-hitting script. 

Epilogue is available from Norma Production.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I belong to a jewish discussion group and would like to show them this film that I saw and loved at the London film festival.
How can I purchase a dvd for strictly private viewing
Rina Rosselson

Amy Kronish said...

You can either try Norma Productions or www.israelifilms.com. Both might be able to sell you a DVD for private home use.