A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS

Israel, 2015, 95 minutes, Colour.
Natalie Portman, Gilad Kahana, Amir Tessler.
Directed by Natalie Portman.

This is certainly a tale of love, especially a mother’s love for her son, but even more certainly a tale of darkness, a tale of depression.

The subject of the film is the Jewish writer, Amos Oz, a memoir about his childhood and his relationship with his mother and father, but especially his mother. The film opens with an older actor as Amos walking through the streets of Jerusalem in more recent times but his memory going back to the 1940s, especially the end of World War II, living in Jerusalem, the uncertainty with the Palestinians, the movement towards the State of Israel and the presence of the British and their withdrawal – and the United Nations vote in 1948 for the State of Israel.

Natalie Portman is the driving force behind the film, not only portraying Amos Oz’s mother but also adapting his memoir for a screenplay and directing the film. She brings a certain intensity to the film which is something of a grim experience even, at times, a glum experience.

Amir Tessler portrays the younger Amos Oz, the young boy who relishes stories, especially listening to those various stories told by his mother, in the film visualising them, for instance, a woman drowning and being rescued, with mother and son seen in these roles, and two monks silently wandering the desert until there is a crisis and they have to speak. Amos’ father is a literate man, writing on literature, even publishing a book and working in a library. Amos’s mother, has a strength of character, but is overcome by the situation at home, in Jerusalem, and, especially, in the British occupation and its consequences.

While the film highlights the diaspora of the Jews over millennia and the great joy in the establishing of the State of Israel (a strong scene showing the crowds listening to the radio in the streets with the countdown of the countries voting yes, the Arab countries voting no and various countries abstaining, including Britain), Finia descends into deep depression. The screenplay points out that she came from the Ukraine with her mother and sisters, has a hankering for her past life and the idealised picture of a young working man, contrasting with severity of her mother’s views, although she gets great comfort from her sisters.

The film is of interest for those who want to know more about Jewish settlement from Europe in the 1940s, in the consequences for their living in what was about to become Israel, tensions with the Palestinians (although is that there is a pleasing sequence when the young Amos befriends a young Arab girl), establishing Israel in the 1940s and the consequences.

1. An interesting Israeli film? Delving into the past? The 1940s, World War II, British occupation, relationship with the Palestinian Arabs, the State of Israel?

2. The reputation of Amos Oz, as a writer? His memoir, his relationship with his mother, 1945 to 1948, the State of Israel?

3. Natalie Portman, writer, director, star?

4. The scenes in Jerusalem, post-war, the homes, the streets, the shops, school, offices? And the recurring theme of the older Amos’s walking through the city?

5. The grim aspects of the story, the love and the darkness, even a glum tone, serious? The musical score?

6. The title, Fania’s life, the impact of her love and her darkness on her husband and Amos?

7. The story, the background to the Ukraine, having to leave the country, the recurring image of the ideal worker, her relationship with her sisters, at home, in Israel, in Tel Aviv, their visits, talking, their help? The contrast with her mother and her severity? Her love for her husband, his being a bookish man, his publication? Her love for Amos, his age? Palestine, the 1940s? A picture of a woman in depression?

8. Her loving to tell stories, the visualising of these stories – even with herself and Amos as the protagonists, the silent monks walking through the desert and their helping, the woman drowning and her being rescued? A talent in telling stories, love for literature and reading? Amos and his response?

9. The family sequences, the detail of life in the house, the rooms, meals, conversation? The difficulties with Fania and her depression and her sitting in the quiet and the dark? A loving father, very proper, his writing and research, literate, publishing, the support of his friend, although hiding the copies which were not sold? His personality, relating, trying to support his wife, developing his son? The glimpse of his being out and putting his hand on the girl – but nothing coming of this? Going out with Fania, her wanting to have an enjoyable meal, her collapsing? His response to the news of the UN count about the state of Israel? His response to Amos leaving – and his later visit to the kibbutz and riding on the tractor with his suitcase?

10. Fania, her love for literature, imagination, dealing with her illness, care for the boy, worry, the political issues, present at the listening to the UN vote, her being reserved, sitting, the doctor, going to Tel Aviv, her sisters, her death?

11. Amos, his life, his imagination, love stories, study, his friends, bonding with his father? The visit to the Palestinians, his friendship with the girl, the incident with the swing, the accident, his father and his reaction, the phone calls and recompense?

12. Jewish people at the time, their experience of the Diaspora, wanting to have a home State, the effect of the Holocaust?

13. The British, the occupation, the impact on the Jewish people, the experience of war, hiding in shelters, the boy shot playing football, the woman shot through the sheet she was hanging on the line? The British withdrawal? The possibilities for peace? The two states?

14. The scene of listening to the count and exhilaration with the UN decision?

15. The aftermath, the beginning of hostilities, Palestinians and Israelis? Seen in the hindsight of this memoir of Amos Oz?