Between creepy testimonies and dramatic effects in the double episode of "Fact," there was a message we had to internalize: It's not a horror movie that can be flipped on, it's the reality of us all. It's time to open your eyes before being seen again for 110 minutes of pre-known murder

• Container Sela Gel

  Photo: 

  Screenshot, from "Fact"

Sweet, beautiful, smiling girl. salt of the earth. That's what the late Michele Sela thinks of the young woman, with the bouncy curls and bright eyes looking at us through the pictures in the opening of the "Fact" transmitter, which yesterday (Tuesday) aired the second and final episode, featuring a chronicle of a known murder.

The story shocked the country about seven months ago. A young couple at the start of his life, all the future ahead - finds himself at the heart of the news after her husband, Eliran Malul, took a knife and brutally murdered his 31-year-old wife, leaving her bleeding to death for nearly 20 hours, in front of the eyes of their eight-month-old toddler.

The heart refuses to believe, the mind refuses to put up with the possibility of such shocking murder, and yet - two episodes of "Fact," spread over 110 minutes, attempt to describe step by step how the relationship between the two led to that tragic evening.

Film maker Ronnie Kovan tries to explore the questions: Could the shocking murder be expected in advance? How could any of the people in question fail to understand that Sela is in a violent relationship? And was it possible to save it in advance?

After watching both sections, the answer seems clearer than ever: The inscription was on the wall. It was written in red and screaming blood. But the human heart, as well as the tendency to repress the possibility that could happen "worst of all," caused Michal's relatives - and herself, to close her eyes and deny the dangerous reality that knocked on her door. Until it was too late.

Photo: June Rickner

The distance between angel and devil

The best melodramatic means were raised in "fact" in favor of the broadcaster in question, from the soundtrack that ranged from dramatic music to sound clips that seemed to be taken from a creepy Japanese horror film, through the particularly sad orphaned baby's faces blurred, to the interviewees' clues as they unfurled The testimonies and signs of the killer's violent soul. One of the saddest pictures was of Michal and Eliran's baby, who by the way is not mentioned throughout the transmitter, sitting alone on a large round table with empty chairs - a parable for her loneliness in the world.

All of this seems to eventually succeed in conveying the chill resulting from the contrast and binary that Malul's personality contained, which on the one hand was portrayed as a sensitive and beloved type of man and, on the other, turned out to be a jealous, violent and temper tantrum. The transmitter is a bright warning sign for all women encountered, and more may be encountered in the future, such as Eliran Malul. Devil in angel costume.

"From the moment he and Michal knew, the madness was great. A few weeks later he said to her:" You are the woman of my life, I want to have children with you, "said a friend of the late Michal. "She told me: Nobody ever talked to me like that. He really loves me, really wants me."

Michal's sister, Liat, also said: "I really liked him, my relationship and his peace were very good. I saw a certain character in him - a really good man." "He has a honey-filled tongue," Michal's older sister, Lily, added.

In another chilling testimony, Malul's ex-spouse reveals the discrepancy between his outward image and what was going on between them: "They thought he was an angel. He was a military fighter, a nature lover, very sensitive. But in India, I always had my head back home in the closet." .

The banality of jealousy

They roam among us, seeing and invisible. The neighbor is out the door, the school bench or the work colleague. Women who unite them are that, on the outside, they "look alright", but after closing the door in a house, which should also be a fort, they deal with a jealous and obsessive partner. We can hear or be exposed daily to such "easy" jealousy scenes, the "provocations" of each other, and may sin and treat it casually, dismissing it with "he is jealous that he so loves her." Kovan's film illustrates most of all how unseen by those signs of jealousy and a tendency to obsess over a spouse, as "small and neglected" as they may appear - as they can predict a horrific end.

Malul's signs also "started small" until they intensified into severe and severe violence. "In a short time, everything became very intense," his ex-wife said. "All day messages, phones, he always wanted to know what the voices he was hearing all around me ... I thought it was love. It flattered me. One day, he locked the door and said to me, 'You're not going for a walk with the battalion.' He threw me on the bed , Choking me and then banging my head against the wall. "Michal, too, as revealed in the episode, felt the signs of jealousy from the beginning." For the first or second time she mentioned the word 'jealous' and wondered: 'How do I and bigotry get along?' " Shared a friend of the late Michal, "But then she said 'Nonsense, nonsense, he has" so many other good things. "

Fear of death

One of the questions that screams for heaven, especially in an episode that aired last night, is: How did those former spouses, who experienced severe violence from Lulul and knew why he could - could "sit still"? How did they complain, all the more so when they knew he was in a relationship with Michal and testified that they were anxious for peace? How did you manage to sleep at night?

Only once did Cuban dare to address this question to one of Eliran's exs, D., and her answer, it seems, sheds light on the motive of all those women who filled their mouths with water: "I was scared, I died in fear. And I wanted to continue my life. To go back and raise your head, and restore all the connections I destroyed. There was a situation I would have died - before Michal was dead, "D. replied. "I was scared he would get revenge on me. He knows where I live and where my friends work."

After the murder, it should be noted that no less than six exiles of Malul approached the police and complained. For the late Michele Sela, it was a little too much, and too late.

It concerns us all

At the opening of the first chapter, Yehudit Ravitz's poem "You Don't Touch" is played, and seems to best convey the cause of the default when it comes to the treatment of domestic violence offenses.   

There is a monster in the river

hungry and awake

but the room is warm and cozy

and you sleep

Your innocent innocence is

quiet and calm

Nothing scares

you

How ironic is the lyrics of songwriter Dan Thorne, now aware of the chilling result of the eyesight, personal and national, in the face of violence against spouses and spouses.

But they know what? Not only did Michal deny her condition. His son, as a friend, "doesn't touch it either." Over two months there have been reports of tens of percent increase in domestic violence as a result of the Corona epidemic and extended stay at home, but the issue is relatively marginal and certainly no editions have been developed, so it is no wonder that cases such as murder in the origin occur. Lily, Michal's sister, was interviewed in the studio at the end of the broadcast, saying: "For me, you know that you need to know as much as Heimlich or we are wearing a seat belt or with the corona, we know how to stay indoors to protect ourselves. You need to know if your couple is obsessed with , In control, in a person who interrogates you on your agenda - you must not separate alone, you should contact a professional. "

she is right. Until awareness and policymakers decide that not only the Corona threatens the continued existence of human existence but also another "silent" epidemic of violence against spouses - the issue will continue to "not touch us" and broadcasts such as "fact" will continue to decorate the prime time and cause We have to chuckle in our tongue every time.

The "Fact" team has illustrated the "wake-up call to the public" by choosing to end the episode to expose the women who decided to "publish" after the previous episode aired, and admit that they too had experienced a violent relationship. In a way that is somewhat reminiscent of the end scene in the Schindler List movie, during which the "real" Holocaust survivors were exposed and made the Hollywood movie crumble and become reality - the same courageous women conveyed the message: We are here, around the corner. What you've been watching is not a Hollywood horror movie that can be "flipped on". This is your reality and ours.