Foxtrot (2017)

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Movie
German title Foxtrot
Original title Foxtrot
פוֹקְסטְרוֹט
Country of production Israel ,
Germany ,
France ,
Switzerland
original language Hebrew
Publishing year 2017
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Samuel Maoz
script Samuel Maoz
music Ophir Leibovitch ,
Amit Poznansky
camera Giora Bejach
occupation

Foxtrot is an anti-war film and drama from 2017 by Israeli director Samuel Maoz. The film is an Israeli-German-French co-production . At the 2017 Venice International Film Festival , he won the Jury Grand Prix (Silver Lion) . The film was also shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival . In Israel, it received a total of eight Ophir Awards , including best film, and was nominated for the preselection of the 2018 Academy Awards as best foreign-language film . It was shown in German cinemas from July 12, 2018. The film takes a critical look at the Israeli army and was discussed very controversially.

action

One day the couple Michael and Daphna Feldmann received the news that their son Jonathan, who was serving in the Israeli military at the time , had died at the front. While the mother collapses in despair, Michael is overcome by sheer anger. The military has a few practical tips for relatives in such situations, such as: B. Drink a glass of water every hour. In the further course of the first half hour, the film shows how the parents deal with their grief. In addition to preparing for the funeral, Michael also has to deal with his family, including his mother, who, suffering from dementia, has difficulty recognizing her son in the nursing home. Another sudden message is delivered that the deceased soldier Jonathan Feldmann was only a namesake of the son who was believed to be dead and that Michael and his wife's son was still alive.

Then a second storyline is woven in, in which four young soldiers are shown, including Jonathan, who are busy at their desolate location at a checkpoint with the control of travelers and with some wild camels. During the nightly inspection of a vehicle with four young people it comes to a catastrophe: One of the soldiers thinks a beer can falling out of the car is a grenade; in response to his warning call, Jonathan immediately fires his machine gun at the occupants and kills them. The vehicle is buried by a bulldozer and the soldiers' superior thinks they were just doing their duty. Nevertheless, Jonathan is ordered back to his family, as his father arranged this after the false news of death.

In the final part, Michael visits Daphna, from whom he apparently now lives separately. They talk about their family and it turns out that Joanathan "fell" after all. Michael reveals his long haunted "secret" that when he was on a war mission, driving at the head of a convoy, he waved the following vehicle forward, which then drove into a mine. The inmates were burned to death and he only wished they died because he could no longer bear their terrible screams. There are also cheerful moments in this conversation, for example when the two make fun of the Jewish and national rituals at their son's funeral. At the end, it is shown how Jonathan died: On the way home, his chauffeur has to avoid a camel, causing the vehicle to fall down a slope.

In addition to the elements of an anti-war drama and a tragic comedy , the film also contains elements of a family drama, but is peppered with a special sense of humor and a certain satire throughout.

The film is named after the couple dance foxtrot . Foxtrot is danced in three film scenes: When Michael Feldmann visits his mother, a group of senior citizens is dancing in the retirement home. A bored soldier performs a dance at the checkpoint. Towards the end of the film, Michael Feldmann dances alone in front of his ex-wife to show her that because of the sequence of steps in the dance, you always arrive at the same point. "Foxtrot" is also the name of the checkpoint where Jonathan is on duty.

reception

The film was initially received as very controversial, especially in Israel itself, but received increasingly positive reviews over the course of its reception and even achieved a rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 114 reviews.

Israel's Minister of Culture, Miri Regev ( Likud ), vehemently criticized Maoz's film on the grounds that it indirectly supports the BDS movement and plays into the hands of all opponents of Israel. In addition, she advocates that no more funding should go to, as she says, films that "spread lies about the soldiers of the IDF". The film academy invited the Minister of Culture Miri Regev to attend the Ophir Awards ceremony in Tel Aviv. Maoz, who himself served as an Israeli soldier and processed his experiences in his films, considers her allegations to be absurd and commented on them with "... that without exception every Israeli film is boycotted by anti-Israeli organizations." In another statement, Regev said it was "It is outrageous that Israeli artists, by spreading lies under the guise of art, help to incite the young generation against the most moral army in the world". 1

The film critic Britta Leuchner of the online magazine Fassette wrote about the film: “[...] The reviews are mixed. From pride to suspicion from the ranks of their own compatriots, as well as great expectations of Maoz, show that this filmmaker is truly not the average in the media industry. One more reason to like him. From the subjects that preoccupy him to the casts in his film dramas, Maoz shows a feeling for timeless and uncompromising high class film art. [...] When and whether the exceptional film will be released in German cinemas, or whether it will remain an insider tip in this country, remains to be seen. But what is certain is that the strip will not suffer a lack of attention in Venice, Israel or the USA. "

1 "It's outrageous that Israeli artists contribute to the incitement of the young generation against the most moral army in the world by spreading lies in the guise of art."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of release for Foxtrot . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 176676 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ MDR culture. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 11, 2017 ; accessed on September 17, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mdr.de
  3. ^ Official website of the Venice Film Festival. Retrieved September 17, 2017 .
  4. ^ Official website of the TIFF. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 16, 2017 ; accessed on September 17, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tiff.net
  5. ↑ Jerusalem Post. Retrieved September 17, 2017 .
  6. ^ Variety. Retrieved September 25, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b Silver Lion for Israeli Director - Government Criticism. Retrieved January 26, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Foxtrot on Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 26, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Jewish General. Retrieved September 17, 2017 .
  10. ^ Allison Kaplan Sommer: The Real Drama Behind 'Foxtrot', the Most Talked-about Israeli Film of the Year. In: Haaretz . Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd., September 18, 2017, accessed September 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Britta Leuchner: Foxtrot, the film, Israel 2017 . Ed .: Fassette online magazine. September 16, 2017 ( fassette.net [accessed January 28, 2018]).