I recently had the opportunity to see the film, Soda, directed by Erez Tadmor, which was made in 2024. Tadmor also made Strangers and A Matter of Size.
I had missed the film, Soda, but I am glad
that I had the chance to see it. It is
very special.
About 1950s Israel, this is a story which takes place during
the early years of the State, when people lived more modestly, and there were
large groups of Holocaust survivors still trying to cope with the traumas of
their not-so-distant past.
A group of survivors, who had been partisans in the forests
of Europe, live together in a neighborhood outside of Tiberias and work in a
soda bottling plant. They have their own
laws and system of justice. Their leader
is Shalom (played by Lior Raz who we all know from Fauda). He lives with his wife who is frail and his
daughter who was born in the forests.
They often listen to the radio broadcasts which provide the names and
messages meant for survivors.
One day, Eva and her daughter move into the
neighborhood. She is an elegant lady, a
seamstress, and sexual tension develops between her and Shalom.
Terrible stories are uncovered – for example, one man’s wife
was shot while searching for food at a farm house. Eva is suspected of having been a kapo in
Auschwitz and her adolescent daughter being the result of her liaison with a
German officer. Everyone with their
memories, traumas, searching for lost relatives.
This is a tender story of loss and love, based on a true
story of the filmmaker’s grandparents. A story about a resistance fighter and
his community trying to rebuild their lives.
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