Dani Rosenberg’s feature film tells the story of an almost teenager who escapes the call up and his disappearance causes a bombing, with fatalities, in his search.
A unique Israeli film has just been released. They call it here “The Deserter”. Its original title in Hebrew is something like “The missing soldier.” The truth is, he is a deserter. Spot. But for the moment his superiors consider him missing, vanished, worse still, kidnapped by Hamas. It doesn’t even occur to them to think that he abandoned his companions just at the moment of going to the front, stole the car of a dead Palestinian whose body was lying on the street, and went like a madman to see his girlfriend.
He is a teenager, worse still, he is a teenager in love who makes a castle in the air with his girlfriend. However, he does not have the face of a lover. Rather, he has the face of a spoiled child. And act like it. He steals, lies, tries to use someone else’s card, takes advantage of his grandmother, wants his mother to protect him. But he also worries about the father, who has been preventively hospitalized. The thing is that a missile almost fell on him that same morning in his business. He was lucky, but the heart must be taken care of (and the hospital is first class).
There the boy has the face of a good son. That’s also where his fate falls: the authorities are looking for him, they already believe him to be a victim of terrorism, but if they find him he will end up in a military prison. The nerves, the uncertainty, the aimless coming and going, accumulating faults, the fatigue, the night begin. The face is different when he hears that, under the pretext of going to rescue him, the army bombed a civilian population. 72 people, including 12 children, died because of him. And now? How do you get out of all this?
The director, Dani Rosenberg, tells this story with maintained precision, and also maintained pressure on the public. There is no rest, nor is there speech for one side or the other. It is enough for him to paint the portrait of a boy, as there can be so many, and let each spectator take pity on him, accompany him or despise him. In the background of the portrait is contemporary society.
Is there a postscript? With the same title, “The Deserter”there is a French film from 1939, set during World War I. During a stop to the front, a soldier notices that they have stopped near his village, and asks permission to go visit his parents and his girlfriend. They only give you a couple of hours. If he does not return within two hours, he will be declared a deserter and shot.
This humanist film Leonide Moguywith Jean-Pierre Aumontwas recently rediscovered by Quentin Tarantinowhich did not stop until it was properly restored and re-released. It has nerve, resources ahead of its time (handheld camera tracking, filming in natural locations, etc.), beautiful characters, intense conflicts and a highly suspenseful ending, handkerchief in hand. Its original title is “Je t’attendrai”I will wait for you.
“The Deserter” (Hachail hana’alam, Israel, 2023); Dir.: Dani Rosenberg; Int.: Ido Tako, Mika Reiss, Efrat Ben Tzur.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
