The hill youth and rape in ultra-Orthodox society: the films that change what you thought about Israeli cinema

Now entering the culture war of Israeli cinema are "Burning Earth", which was filmed in Samaria and deals with the youth of the hills, and "Barren" made by the artistic director of the controversial Samaria Foundation.

Review

Avner Shavit

09/09/2022

Friday, 09 September 2022, 02:02 Updated: 02:21

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Trailer "Burning Earth" (Liran Shetrit)

Israeli cinema, as usual, is in the midst of a culture war.

This conflict concerns general and specific questions.

The general question is what kind of films should be made, who should make them, and how, if at all, they should be financed.

The individual question concerns the Samaria Foundation, which promotes filmmaking in the disputed region, and therefore became controversial itself.

Two feature films made in Israel that were released this weekend are another chapter in this cultural war, which will probably continue for a long time.

"Burning Earth" by Liran Shtrit did not receive the support of the Shomron Foundation, or any other foundation, but it was filmed in the region and deals with the youth of the hills, and in an interview with my colleague Amir Bogan, its creator expressed support for the foundation and its goals.

The artistic director of the fund is Rabbi Mordechai Vardi, who is also the director of "Akra", a film that has nothing to do with Samaria, but does take place as far away as possible from secular and left-wing Tel Aviv - in the Hasidic of Breslav in Safed.

The message: violence leads to violence.

From "Burning Earth" (Photo: Kobi Sharvit)

Let's start with "Burning Earth".

This is the first feature-length film dealing with the youth of the hills and the violence of the settlers, a subject previously discussed only in short films and docu-films, and even then in few cases.

The film is about a young man played by Assaf Hertz, who comes from a broken home.

His father is not around, and his mother works as a hacker.

This is the type of movie that falls into the "Madonna/whore" mold where women are either prostitutes or saints.

Later the hero will meet a vineyard owner who turns out to be an angel who fell from the sky.

Complex representation of women is not the strong point here.

The young man loses his way, and the way eventually leads him to join the youth of the hills.

There, under the influence of a fanatic rabbi played by Nati Ravitz, he deteriorates into acts of violence.

At the center of these is the throwing of a Molotov cocktail that leads to the death of a child - a case that, unfortunately, of course echoes reality.

All this takes place in the Samaria region, most of the time it is filmed here as if it were Switzerland.

Only the figure of Heidi the mountain girl is missing.

On the one hand, it is a very local film.

He does not try in any way to pander to the international audience, and does not give context to what is happening.

A foreign viewer who is not familiar with Israeli history will not understand what is happening.

Instead, he focuses on specific conflicts within the settlements and the Israeli right - between the movement led by the rabbi and other approaches.

Makes Samaria look like Switzerland.

From "Burning Earth" (Photo: Kobi Sharvit)

On the other hand, the film's screenplay template and its style of making draw from the DNA of British and American cinema.

The story of a confused and unemployed young man caught in a cycle of violence could easily be the story of a London football hooligan.

The scenes in the hero's childhood neighborhood seem to be taken from American crime films about white-trash trailers, and the action scenes are also inspired by Hollywood cinema.

Due to their setting on a hill they do not recall more contemporary genres, but battle scenes from historical epics about the Middle Ages.

It is impossible not to appreciate the director Liran Shtrit.

A young man who did not receive any support from the establishment, who makes films while all his peers dream of writing a series, and managed to make the best out of the nothing he had at his disposal.

The film is not boring throughout its ninety minutes, the acting is good and the landscape shots are impressive.

The music, which the director took the trouble to record with an orchestra in Hungary, is really impressive.

The film has no special power or extraordinary momentum, but it didn't pretend to get a Netflix contract or win the Cannes Film Festival in the first place.

This is an independent production, with a specific theme.

The rawness and roughness of the work is certainly evident, but so is the passion.

So much for the artistic appreciation.

It is impossible to discuss "Burning Earth" without also referring to his ideology.

There were already those who tried to sell it as a "right-wing film".

Well, he is not, just like most Israeli films that sell themselves or are defined by others as "leftist" are not really like that.

Nati Ravitz as the extremist leader in "Burning Earth" (Photo: Kobi Sharvit)

There is no particularly interesting statement in "Scorching Earth", and there is no reason for anyone to attack it, either from this side or from the other side, no matter what your side is.

In the end, like most Israeli films, of course, it's pretty lame.

What is he saying?

that extremist leaders are a dangerous thing, and that violence leads to violence.

There is no deep digging into Israeli society, criticism of something in the consensus or any challenging message.

In short, don't rush to call the fire department.

Still, we'll end with another word of appreciation for director Liran Shetrit.

Creators who define themselves as liberal may attack him, because of the subject he chose to photograph, and because of his support for the Shomron Foundation.

just what?

"Burning Earth" bothers to present Arab characters, even if as supporting characters.

Some commit acts of violence, but some are also victims, but in any case they exist.

In most of the other Israeli films this year, with exceptional exceptions such as "Cinema Sabaya", there is not even that, so don't preach a moral to him.

Regarding "Akra", I will repeat what I wrote after its premiere in the official competition at the Jerusalem Festival, from which it came out empty-handed by the way.

More in Walla!

What she discovered as a prosecutor in the prosecutor's office shocked her.

Now she made a movie out of it

To the full article

Made from within ultra-Orthodox society, but does not hesitate to attack it.

From "Barren" (Photo: Uri Akerman)

This is a film made from within ultra-Orthodox society, but does not hesitate to attack it.

As the name implies, it deals with a childless couple, but its name is a bit misleading, because it hides the main plot twist, which takes place already at the beginning and can therefore be revealed.

As part of her efforts to bring a child into the world, its heroine turns to anyone who offers help, and unfortunately there are those who take advantage of her predicament.

One of them pretends to be a God-fearing man who offers magic solutions, but turns out to be a sexual predator who attacks her.

The film breaks a taboo and talks about rape in ultra-Orthodox society, and also shows that in response to the fact, many in the heroine's environment choose to blame the victim, and come to her with allegations instead of bringing the perpetrator to justice or making sure that such cases do not repeat themselves.

The secular observer may say critical words about the Orthodox world here, but first of all he should look in the mirror and ask himself whether in the secular environment we react to such cases in a more appropriate way.

The film spans 108 minutes.

Sometimes they are monotonous, but overall the viewing is fascinating and exposes us to the whole world and to interesting halachic questions.

A recurring motif here is scenes of shofar blowing and dialogues about "blowing" and "blowing".

Over the years we've seen a lot of phallic symbols in cinema, but I don't remember this particular symbolism, and it adds a bit more bluntness and uniqueness to the result.

As usual in the genre, most of the actors are completely secular who play ultra-Orthodox - for example Milli Eshet, Yoav Rothman, Gil Frank and Nebo Kimchi.

Everyone is doing a great job.

Full of phallic symbols.

From "Barren" (Photo: Uri Akerman)

Both "Burning Earth" and "Barren" are currently showing in cinemas.

Journalists from the right side of the political map have argued many times in recent years that Israeli cinema has failed commercially for one reason: because it only provides us with films about the suffering of Palestinians at the checkpoints.

So there you have it, a film about the youth of the hills that was filmed in Samaria, and a film by a rabbi who is the artistic director of the Shomron Fund, which deals with the ultra-Orthodox society in Safed.

Now it's the turn of those who complained to go to the cinema, buy tickets for these two films, make them commercial successes and make sure that there will be more like them in the future.

And if you don't support them - don't cry later and don't complain to others.

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• The Hill Youth