Protest that comes from an unusual place in Apkon/Young's doc, DISTURBING THE PEACE

Of all the many documentaries we've seen regarding the ongoing Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, DISTURBING THE PEACE, the new one from filmmakers Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young, is certainly among the most unusual and important. This is because the film details the coming together of a group of Israeli military and former Palestinian fighters who have joined forces to challenge the seats of power on both sides by insisting, Enough! Really now: Doesn't "Give peace a chance" resonate a lot more strongly when it comes from those who have served in the military and/or devoted so much of their former life to war?

Filmmakers Apkon (shown at left) and Young (below) certainly see it that way, and so, I think, will you, once you've witnessed their thoughtful and moving documentary with its rather ironic title: "Peace," after all, is what the folk we meet here are looking for. Yet the "peace" they are disturbing is actually the status quo found in both a majority of Palestinians and Israelis who would rather go on fighting forever than join forces to find some way out of the death

and destruction that keep raining down upon them. To counter this seemingly endless trend, Apkon and Young offer up first a history of the principals involved in this joint effort. They show us the background of these people, embedded of course, in the history of their cultures: How the Jews lost entire families to the Holocaust, and how the Palestinians lost their land, homes and sometimes family members, as Israel took over their former homeland. This is history, writ both large and small, and once we learn where these Israeli military and Palestinian fighters came from, we also begin to learn, understand and appreciate how and why their attitudes slowly evolved and changed.

Most of this history has been "re-created" for the documentary, but once we get into present-day affairs, the film relies on real footage. While TrustMovies is growing somewhat tired of these re-creations, he admits that they do make for a more engaging entry into the tale being told. Otherwise, this documentary might be little more than talking heads reminiscing for maybe half the running time of the film. Here, the re-creations are bolstered by historical footage (one shocking scene shows workers cleaning up literally buckets of blood in a disco after a bombing) that helps keep the movie on track.

One of the most surprising and deepest moments arrives when a Palestinian fighter sees his own mother crying for the dead children on a recently bombed bus. "But they weren't Palestinian, they were Israeli," he tells her. She sets him straight with an answer that resonates and burns into him. And then there is the case of the Palestinian mother (below), planning on becoming a suicide bomber, and how she handles the explanation of this to her young daughter. Because this movie first builds up a very good case for how angry the men and women on both sides really are, it can then build an even better case for peaceful resolution by showing how change did come. For them, at least.

Some of the Israelis shown screaming "Traitors!" at members of this coalition at various rallies show the state of that nation and may remind you of similar happenings when Rabin was still alive. These "traitors" are people who believe so strongly in working for peace that they have been put in prison for years for their beliefs. The world needs more of this kind of "traitor." In one surprising scene, we're made privy to a family in which the father wants his daughters to join in a protest march for peace. Notes his wife: "You've gone to the other side, and it makes me crazy."

The film provides some good history, too, taking us back to the letter signed by these Israeli military men refusing to fight any longer in the occupied territories. "We are not against serving in the army but we refuse to turn that army into a mechanism of repression." At the first meeting of the two sides, tensions are shown to be high ("I wanted to kill them. To eat them!" one person recalls). Over time this tension lessens and major progress is made.

The 2015 uprising proved a real setback to the cause, but by the finale of the film, we see both sides taking to the public platform and engaging their audience with the idea of peace. "Don't listen to your leaders!" they exhort the crowd. "Challenge them!" And that, of course, would be leaders on both sides of the equation. Disturbing the Peace left me in tears -- for all that could be done but has not been. Yet.

The documentary -- from Abramorama, in Hebrew, Arabic and often in English (with English subtitles used when needed) and running 87 minutes -- opens this Friday, November 11, in New York City at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Landmark Sunshine, and on November 18 in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Music Hall 3. Elsewhere? Yes, Click here to view all currently scheduled screenings, along with special screenings (with free admission, or for veterans) and to see the schedule for the many personal appearances by the directors.

Talya Lavie's Israeli box-office hit ZERO MOTIVATION opens at New York's Film Forum

You don't have to be Israeli to enjoy ZERO MOTIVATION, the randy, raucous, rabble-rousing comedy about the Israeli military (women's division) that opens this coming week, but being steeped in Israeli culture probably helps one to fully appreciate this film. The half-dozen or so characters we meet and spend some "quality" time with, including one especially deceptive male, have various degrees of motivation (toward quite different goals) but their bizarre appeal and utterly quirky humor is almost never in doubt.

As written and directed by filmmaker Talya Lavie (shown at left), who I am guessing based this somewhat on her own experience and that of other women she knew (doesn't almost every Israeli man and woman spend some time in the military?), the movie commands our attention almost as much for its strangeness as for its entertainment. And, trust me, there is plenty here of both. The several young women we meet who are fast friends (except when they're not) and will seem to do just about anything to get out of doing real work, represent, I guess, a cross section of Israeli womanhood.

That these young ladies are in the military would seem to underscore the fact that military service, no matter where in the world it is taking place, is a somehow crazy and pointless endeavor -- full of its special rules and regulations that became their own raison d'être and do not finally even matter much.

The main characters here include a girl named Daffi (who is indeed exactly that), played as resolutely pert and entitled by Nelly Tagar (above), and Zohar, a clunkier, big-boned girl with initially the least motivation of all, played most tellingly by Dana Ivgy (below, of Or and Broken Wings).

Also in the mix is a more recent emigree from Eastern Europe (shown below, applying lipstick rather too freely), who suddenly becomes the "protector" of one of our girls (before going totally bonkers).

And then there's the soldier in charge of this mess, Rama, played quite sadly and beautifully by Shani Klein,(below), a woman entirely motivated by and constantly working toward her upcoming promotion.

In fact, the only more motivated female here is the young woman we meet early on, who appears to be Daffi's replacement but, as it turns out, is something quite other. Motivation, it would seem, is the route to utter disaster. Never more so than when one of our girls decides to lose her virginity and picks someone remarkably wrong to help with this endeavor.

Ms Lavie has separated her story (rather arbitrarily, it seemed to me) into several sections: Daffi, The Virgin (and her paratrooper), the Commander, etc. At the very least, these are unnecessary, as her stories bounce off each other nicely and practically seem to tell themselves.

Funny, bizarre, and finally about friendship more than anything else, Zero Motivation is so culturally specific and original that there is no other country on earth, I think, that could have spawned this film.

From Zeitgeist Films, in Hebrew with English subtitles and running 100 minutes, the movie, after playing a number of festivals around the USA and elsewhere, opens this coming Wednesday in its U.S. theatrical debut at Film Forum in New York City, after which it will make its way around the country over the weeks and months to come. (It opens in L.A. on January 16 at Landmark's NuArt.) You can check all currently scheduled playdates by clicking here.

SCN--Gerardo Herrero's FROZEN SILENCE explores Franco's "Blue Division" in WWII

TrustMovies is very glad that Richard Peña, the FSLC's about-to-retire head of program-ming, introduced the film FROZEN SILENCE (Silencio en la nieve) at its single Spanish Cinema Now screening last Friday night, for he gave the audience a quick and very helpful understan-ding of what the Franco-inspired Blue Division of World War II was all about. Made up of both conscripts and volunteers (the latter of whom often had relatives imprisoned by Franco, so they hoped their service might help arrange a release), this Blue Division fought along side of the Nazis against the Russians on the eastern front of the war.

Some of these volunteers no doubt had Socialist sympathies, having fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War. But here they are now, fighting for the great Dictator of Germany at the behest of the Little Dictator of Spain. Talk about unwanted ironies. Directed by famed producer and occasional director Gerardo Herrero (shown at left), with an adaptation from Nicolás Saad of the novel by Ignacio del Valle, the movie is an impressive feat production-wise, set as it is in a snowy semi-fortress where the German and Spanish soldiers sit in the midst of the local Russians they have semi-conquered. Betrayal, or at least the threat of it, is everywhere in this movie, giving the film a queasy, uneasy quality almost from first frame to last.

So, when early on, a soldier's corpse is discovered amidst some horses (above) frozen into the snowbanks, another clever soldier (he's a former detective) surmises that the man was dead before he froze. Further investigation leads to the discovery of words from a children's song carved into his chest. Nasty. Soon another, similarly carved corpse (below) turns up.

Movie murder-mysteries set amidst the military happen along every decade or so (Night of the Generals is one of the earlier that I recall) and they are often of more than average interest because of their onion-like appeal: one layer of mystery inside another layer of military. Frozen Silence goes them one better by placing its story inside a military situation rife with several extra layers of unrest and suspicion.  There is even a game of "roulette" that figures prominently in the plot -- and no, it is not the Casino Royale type but rather that of The Deer Hunter.

Drawbacks to the film includes a cast in which several of the actors bear too much similarity to each other, making immediate differen-tiation sometimes a problem. Lead actors Juan Diego Botto and Carmelo Gómez, both seen from time to time in this yearly series, could easily come from the same genetic pool, and certain other actors, during their prime scene or at their revelatory moment, may have you exclaiming, "Oh, it's him! -- followed by an immediate, "Wait a minute: Who is he exactly?" Everyone appearing constantly in military uniform (except of course, when they semi-strip for a love scene) doesn't do a lot for differentiation, either.

But these are minor quibbles. For the most past Frozen Silence succeeds twice over -- giving us a most interesting slice of Spanish wartime/political history, along with a pretty good mystery. Though its one playdate in the series has come and gone, you can check out what else is available over the coming week in Spanish Cinema Now by clicking here.

Charlotte Brändström/Hans Rosenfeldt's version of Henning Mankell's WALLANDER: THE REVENGE opens in NYC & Los Angeles

Made for Swedish television, which, if this particular 90-minute episode is any indication, is better and more adult than American network TV (are we surprised?), HENNING MANKELL'S WALLANDER: THE REVENGE (that'll fill or kill a marquee!) is also better than the ersatz-Swedish version that starred Kenneth Branagh and aired here a couple of years ago via Public Television. Why? The first thing you'll notice is that this film is much less glossy. A sense of reality hangs over everything from police headquarters and individual domiciles to the quiet (until very recently) little town itself.

This film is said to be the first episode of the original Swedish Wallander series, and its director, Charlotte Brändström (shown at right), and writer, Hans Rosenfeldt, do a good job of introducing the characters, as well as bringing things to a satisfactory conclusion, while leaving just enough interesting loose ends to make us want to continue watching. Which is handy, since the movie's theatrical distributor, Music Box Films, this past Friday released to VOD, iTunes, Amazon and Vudu thirteen of these Wallander "movies" for our further delectation. DVD versions will be available this coming Tuesday, May 29.

Bad things suddenly happen in the town in which Wallander abides -- explosions, murders -- at the same time as a controversial (read Muslim) museum exhibit is opening. The question of terrorism immediately rises, the army is called in, and politicians get into the act. What is going on -- and why?

As police-procedurals go, this particular Wallander is a pretty good one: relatively fast-moving, but never too fast to omit the smart detail or character trait that helps enrich the whole. And the character of Wallander himself is brought to life so much better than did the PBS version. Kenneth Branagh is a fine actor, but he was spotlighted far too heavily in that series and finally made to seem like such an icon that his every moment and move had to register strongly. Too strongly. Krister Henriksson (shown above), the Wallander of this series, plays his character as simply a man: decent, old-fashioned (he's got some things to learn about today's women), brave, and intelligent but no Einstein. He surrounds himself with good people and makes the best use of them. Henriksson gives a quiet and increasingly strong performance. He's memorable without ever being showy.

The only other "known" cast member to most Americans will be Lena Endre, at right, who plays the Swedish equivalent of a district attorney who must work with Wallander. She's lovely -- and as watchable as ever.

Perfectly good entertainment on any level, this Wallander still has the look and feel of television. But if you're hankering for a big-screen movie experience, it'll be opening on either coast: this coming Friday, June 1, in New York City at the Cinema Village, and on Friday, June 8, in the Los Angeles area at the Laemmle Music Hall 3.