 KIPPURSOUTHERN PREMIERE Based on Gitai's own experiences during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the film begins in confusion as two reservists struggle to reach their unit. Weintraub is a young bohemian who quotes the philosophy and smears paint on his girlfriend while they're making love. Driving a decrepit Fiat along roads choked with military vehicles struggling to reach a constantly changing front, Weintraub and Ruso realize that this is not a neat and tidy war and that they may never find their unit in time. Instead, they arrive at an air force base where they simply join the war, flying missions to rescue the wounded, until they are suddenly shot down. Gitai, who directed the record-breaking Kadosh last year (10th PBJFF), gives Kippur a plotless feel and uses the close-to-the-ground hyper-realist mode of the opening sequences of Saving Private Ryan. Drawing rave reviews in Cannes, Toronto and New York, the film is really anti-war. Not because it takes a stand against war--the soldiers in the film accept the necessity of fighting and the film never questions their commitment--but because Gitai avoids the cliches and conventions of the genre. He avoids sentimentalizing the conflict, and instead pushes our face up against war to show how mundane, frightening and arbitrary it can be. Guest: Amos Gitai, Director, will appear only on Sunday, Dec. 10, 7:00 pm at the Carefree Theatre This screening is made possible through the generosity of the Consulate General Israel, Miami |