In the shadow of the Golan Heights
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | In the shadow of the Golan Heights |
| Original title | Pour sacha |
| Country of production | France |
| original language | French |
| Publishing year | 1991 |
| length | 114/81 (abridged German version) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alexandre Arcady |
| script | Alexandre Arcady, Antoine Lacomblez , Daniel Saint-Hamont |
| production | Alexandre Arcady |
| music | Philippe Sarde |
| camera | Robert Alazraki |
| cut | Martine Barraqué |
| occupation | |
| |
In the shadow of the Golan Heights (Original title: Pour Sacha ) is a French drama film with Sophie Marceau from 1991.
action
Israel in May 1967: The French Laura has been living with her older lover Sacha in a kibbutz between the Golan Heights and Lake Tiberias for two years . It is announced on the radio that the United Nations peacekeeping forces are to be withdrawn from the hotly contested region. The situation is worrying, but stable. On the occasion of Laura's upcoming 20th birthday, three old friends arrive from Paris . All three - Paul, Simon and Michel - were once in love with Laura. They are no less so than they see Laura picking fruit on the kibbutz. Laura is initially angry about her sudden appearance, since the area near the Syrian border is far too dangerous. Sacha, on the other hand, who had given philosophy lessons to the young men and Laura in France and who had emigrated to Israel with the desire to learn more about his Jewish roots, warmly welcomes Paul, Simon and Michel. Then Laura shows the newcomers the kibbutz, where they too have to help out with everyday tasks.
Laura gives violin lessons in the kibbutz kindergarten. Paul, who thinks she is wasting her own talent, confesses to her that he loves her and wants to have a child with her. However, Laura loves Sacha and thinks she is happy with him. Meanwhile, while she is picking cotton, Sacha becomes unfaithful to her with an Italian. When Laura, together with Paul and Michel, rested exhausted under a tree after their work, the kibbutz was attacked by Syrian rockets. Fear of death, Paul runs into the immediate danger zone and saves a man's life. In order to distract people from their worries and fears, there is a celebration in the evening. When Laura learns that Sacha has cheated on her, she makes him a scene. Then she sits pensively by the lake and jumps naked into the water in front of Paul, Simon and Michel. The young men do the same and swim a little with her. The next day they drive together to a village, where they are invited to dinner by a Muslim family and a woman gives Laura her wedding dress. Back in the kibbutz, Laura reconciles with Sacha.
At her birthday party, Sacha Laura proposes marriage, which she happily accepts. But then Simon shows the others a film with a projector showing a young woman named Myriam. Simon, who loved Myriam, accuses Laura of having once been jealous of the beautiful Myriam in Paris and of driving her to suicide with condescending behavior. Outraged, Laura slaps him in the face. Simon wants to leave the next day. All soldiers stationed in the kibbutz are also withdrawing after Egypt has set up a blockade. Weeping, Laura says goodbye to Sacha, who promises to leave the Israeli army in two months and then to marry her. On the way, Sacha meets Simon. They get into an argument and start fighting. Before Sacha drives on in his jeep, he tells Simon that Myriam was in love with him, Sacha, and that she threw herself out of the window on her birthday because of lovesickness. Simon then returns to the kibbutz.
After the outbreak of the Six Day War , Myriam's brother David campaigned for more solidarity with Israel in Paris. His mother asked him to go to Israel and give Sacha a letter from Myriam. Meanwhile, in the kibbutz, people are preparing for an attack. Simon and Laura clash again. When Simon kisses Laura, she lets himself in shortly afterwards, but then turns away guiltily. Then Simon leaves the kibbutz with a horse. The horse throws him in a minefield, which immediately steps on a mine and dies. The Muslim, who invited Laura and the others in the village to his home and is now refused entry by a guard at the gate of the kibbutz, tells Laura that he saw Simon in a minefield. Laura sets out with a few men and saves Simon. Meanwhile, an Israeli force led by Sacha is advancing to the Western Wall in Jerusalem . While praying at the wall, Sacha is fatally hit by a bullet. When Laura learns of his death, she is devastated. In the bunker of the kibbutz, she lets Simon, Paul and Michel hug her for comfort. Shortly afterwards the war is over and the rocket-fired kibbutz is being rebuilt. Laura receives a package with Sacha's things. She unexpectedly finds a photo of him and Myriam in his wallet. Myriam's brother David finally arrives at Sacha's funeral and gives her his sister’s suicide note addressed to Sacha. Laura throws the unopened letter into Sacha's open grave and then burns the photo of Sacha and Myriam. She packs her things and leaves the kibbutz with a photographer. Paul, Simon and Michel look after her thoughtfully.
background
Israeli actresses Yaël Abecassis and Ayelet Zurer made their film debut in In the Shadow of the Golan Heights . The shooting took place in France, Tel Aviv and Tiberias . Philippe Sarde's film music was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra .
The film premiered on April 10, 1991 in France, where 919,471 admissions could be booked. In Germany, the film was first released on video in a shortened version on May 4, 1993. Leading actress Sophie Marceau was not dubbed by Irina Wanka or Judith Brandt , as is usually the case , but by Susanne Sternberg .
Reviews
The lexicon of international films found that against the background of the Middle East War, which had been told “authentically in the documentary recordings”, “the drama, reminiscent of Truffaut's constructions, was developing with convincing consistency”. In addition to a “finely woven [n] network of psychological relationships”, “the haunting play of the actors [...] in a calm narrative style leads to the elegiac end”.
Rita Kempley of the Washington Post said that with the film, director Alexandre Arcady cast an "idyllic, exaggerated, rather fuzzy look at love and war in a kibbutz". Arcady had not been able to adequately link the suicide of a Parisian woman with the death of a soldier in Israel. In addition, the film is essentially "a melodrama with a tendency to adopt meaningless aphorisms". Jonathan Rosenbaum of Chicago Reader found that in "Alexandre Arcady's Well-Done French Film" attempts to link personal fates to historical events "may not always be convincing", but they are "always moving".
Web links
- In the shade of the Golan Heights in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Synopsis and review on frenchfilmguide.com
- Pictures of the film on toutlecine.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. jpbox-office.com
- ↑ In the shadow of the Golan Heights. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ In the shadow of the Golan Heights. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ “ For Sasha is Alexandre Arcady's bucolic, hyperbolic, rather blurry look at love and war on the kibbutz. […] At heart, For Sasha is a melodrama with an inclination to espouse vapid aphorisms. " Rita Kempley: 'For Sasha' . In: The Washington Post , June 12, 1992.
- ↑ "Alexandre Arcady's well-crafted French film [… W] hile the attempts to combine personal and historical elements aren't always convincing, they're frequently affecting." Jonathan Rosenbaum: For Sasha . In: Chicago Reader , December 1, 1992.