ZION AND HIS BROTHER/ ZION VE AHAV
Israel, 2009, 84 minutes, Colour.
Reuven Badalov, Ofer Hayoun, Ronit Elkabetz, Tzahi Grad.
Directed by Eran Merav.
This is a brief Israeli film, a family story, particularly Israeli but one with universal themes, a story which could be told in many different cultures.
Zion is a young boy, the second son, dominated in many ways by his older brother who is in mid-adolescence, rebellious, violent, sexually active, yet still immature. The older brother has a responsibility for his younger brother but is sometimes resentful of it. There are various domestic sequences, going to a local phone to take calls from their absent father, interactions with their mother who is seen as something of a loser and who has taken up with a local builder, who plans to take the family to a new home.
The crisis comes when Zion thinks that a young African boy from school has stolen his sneakers and tries to get them back – and his brother being particularly brutal, the boy fleeing and getting hit by an oncoming train, something which does not bother the older brother but preys on the conscience of Zion.
The two actors did not have a lot of screen experience but their mother is played by prominent Israeli actress, Ronit Elkabetz.
1. An Israeli story, but a story that could be told anywhere? The Israeli settings? Tel Aviv? The city, the suburbs, the poorer area, homes, school, building sites, the railway, the sea, Mc Donald’s? The musical score?
2. A family story, the absent father and his phone calls, his sons and their talking with him, his concern? The mother, separated, her slack life, her boyfriends, going out with them, not having enough money, yet her sons, devotion to Zion, concern about Meir?
3. The two boys, their ages, the older and his care for the younger, sharing the room, sharing many episodes? Yet the older becoming an adolescent, not wanting responsibility for his brother, his attitude towards his mother, condemning her? Talking on the phone with his father? Tough, attitudes, with the girls, sex, with his friends, the girl in the car, her refusal, his pushing her out? The later confrontation, the gun at her head, the joke, her apology?
4. Zion, his age, with his brother, the preoccupation with the dentist, his not wanting to go, his fears, eventually going? Love for his mother? Her concern about the dentist? His attitude towards his father, the phone calls? His attitude towards Eli? His sneakers, disappearance, saying he did not lose them? Seeing the African boy, the confrontation? Riding on the bike with his brother, the brother and his brutality towards the boy, bashing him, the boy rushing away, towards the train, his being killed?
5. Zion as a loner, wanting his own room? Taking refuge in the sea? The possibility of moving, with his mother and Eli at the building site? The suggestion that he go to the centre and then come to the apartment when ready? The meal at Mc Donald’s, his helping on the building site, then his brutal comment to Eli about his mother not loving him? His change of heart?
6. The older brother, his behaviour, care for his brother, the brutality, his disappearance, the confrontation with the girl? His future?
7. The mother, the boyfriend, reconciling, the boyfriend and his work, prepared to be a foster father, the future?
8. Zion, upset at the death of the boy, the discussions about him, his conscience, his brother’s callous attitude, the father coming to the school and asking if anyone knew his son, Zion going to the father, carrying the pot plants? His future?
