Machboim (1980)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Dan Wolman

Writers:

Avi Cohen (writer)
Dan Wolman (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Twelve year-old Uri reports his teacher Balaban as a suspected spy when he observes him meeting with a young arab man. Only later does he discover that Balaban's interest in the young arab is romantic rather than political. |

Plot Keywords:

Israeli Gay Lifestyle | Gay Interest | Closeted Homosexual

Cast

Gila Almagor
Benyamin Armon
Chaim Hadaya
Efrat Lavie
Rahel Shor
Doron Tavory	...	Balaban

Also Known As:

Hide and Seek (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Color:

Color

Something of a story, more of a gallery

As he showed in his first film, Ha-Timhoni, Dan Wolman is in no rush to tell a story. He doesn't mind spending time just presenting image after image, and the photography here is beautiful. There certainly is a story, about a sullen and alienated boy experiencing for the first time the complexity of life, but the boy isn't particularly arresting; evidently no 12-year-old James Dean happened to answer the casting call. Among the adult actors the level is much better, and such local stars as Gila Almagor, Efrat Lavie, and Doron Tavori don't disappoint; but you can get the impression that other actors who needed a little help didn't get it on this project. It would be a cliché to say that "Jerusalem is the star of the movie," and it wouldn't even be true because there are no travelogue shots; but the painstakingly re-created (or re-imagined) atmosphere of British mandatory Palestine is perhaps the most successful aspect.