Kedma (2002)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Amos Gitai

Writers:

Amos Gitai (writer)
Mordechai Goldhecht (writer)

Release Date:

22 May 2002 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.

Plot Keywords:

Israel | Immigrant | 1940s | Immigration | Based On Novel

Awards:

3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Andrei Kashkar	...	Yanush
Helena Yaralova	...	Rossa
Yussuf Abu-Warda	...	The Arab Man
Moni Moshonov	...	Klibanov
Juliano Mer	...	Moussa
Menachem Lang	...	Menachem
Sendi Bar	...	Yardena
Tomer Russo	...	Milek
Liron Levo	...	Gideon
Roman Hazanowski	...	Roman
Dalia Shachaf	...	Dalia
Karen Ben Raphael	...	Isha
Sasha Chernichovsky	...	Sacha
Rawda Suleiman	...	Jaffra
Gal Altschuler	...	Ygal

Also Known As:

Kedma (France)
Kedma verso Oriente (Italy)
Verso oriente (Italy)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Italy | Israel | France

Language:

Hebrew | Arabic | German | Polish | Russian | Yiddish

Color:

Color (Fujicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:12 | Brazil:12 | France:U | Argentina:13

Company:

Agav Hafakot

Movie Connections:

Featured in Independence: Around the Film 'Kedma', a Film by Amos Gitai (2002)

interesting subject, original treatment, poor cinematography

Amos Gitai is one of the best known Israeli directors, quite successful in the circuit of the international cinema festivals. What a pity that his daring and fresh approach to the key moments of the Israeli history is not doubled, unfortunately, at least in this film, by appropriate cinema means.

The historical setting of 'Kedma' is the moment of the beginning of the state of Israel when immigrants from Europe, survivors of the Holocaust arrive in Israel aboard the illegal immigration boats, just to finds on the promised shore a new land of conflict. 'Kedma' is the name of an immigrants boat, as 'Exodus' was, and it deals with the same period as in Leon Uris's book and film 'Exodus', Certainly this important moment in history deserves a better treatment than the Hollywood one. It's a setting well entrenched in the collective memory of any Israeli and Palestinian. Gitai however is more interested in decomposing the historical myth rather than building or describing it.

There are a few good moments in this film. Gitai likes long shots, and the first scene of the film is a beautiful rendition of the immigrants boat, with a nice passing from private to very public life. Another set of scenes represent the communication, or rather the lack of communication between the groups in the new country - immigrants from Europe still in shock after the horrors of the Holocaust, local Jews, prototypes of the 'new Israelis' full of confidence but lacking the understanding of the problems of other groups, displaced Arabs, mis-guided by their leaders and terrorized by the show of force of the Jews starting the long march that will become some day the Palestinian refugees problem, opera-style British troops, all these groups of humans get together in well filmed scenes, but do not really communicate. This is one of the problems that lay at the origin of the Israeli-Arab conflict seems the author to say.

Despite some memorable scenes, the film does not come together as a consistent piece of cinema. Characters get lost, show up and die too fast, they are more an idea of what they could be than real screen characters. The problem is not the lack of message, but the means - the author focuses in two monologues (by the displaced Arab, and by the Polish Jew immigrant) that say a lot about the continuity of conflict and about heroism being no more than a form of despair in front of the vicissitudes of history, but these are theatrical or literary monologues, without a connection with the film environment where they are placed. 'Kedma' is memorable by its setting and message, but not a good film to remember.