O Jerusalem (2006)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Elie Chouraqui

Writers:

Elie Chouraqui (writer)
Didier Le Pêcheur (co-writer)

Release Date:

18 October 2006 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The historic struggle for Jerusalem and the birth of Israel.

Plot:

A tale of friendship between two men, one Jewish and the other Arab, as the state of Israel is being created. |

Plot Keywords:

Israel | War Of Independence | Jerusalem | 1940s | Palestine

Cast

JJ Feild	...	Bobby Goldman
Saïd Taghmaoui	...	Saïd Chahine
Maria Papas	...	Hadassah
Patrick Bruel	...	David Levin
Ian Holm	...	Ben Gurion
Tovah Feldshuh	...	Golda Meir
Mel Raido	...	Jacob
Cécile Cassel	...	Jane
Mhairi Steenbock	...	Cathy
Tom Conti	...	Sir Cunningham
Shirel	...	Yaël
Peter Polycarpou	...	Abdel Khader
Daniel Lundh	...	Roni
Anatol Yusef	...	Major Tell
Jamie Harding	...	Amin Chahine

Also Known As:

Ô Jérusalem (France)
Beyond Friendship (USA) (working title)
O' Jerusalem (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for some war scenes.

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

France | UK | Italy | Greece | Israel | USA

Language:

English | Arabic | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Castle Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK

Company:

Les Films de l'Instant

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the United Nations General Assembly vote on partition, a vote is heard from Myanmar. This name was used only since 1989 by the military government; Burma is still the name recognized by the U.S. and most of the world.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le voyage du ballon rouge (2007)

Soundtrack:

Coming Home to Stay

A very bad movie

O Jerusalem is a terrible movie. Very bad, stilted acting and a very, very bad script. I had looked forward to watching this movie because I read the book and have emotional views regarding Israel's war of independence (or as the Arabs call it, "The catastrophe").

This movie had virtually no resemblance to that book, which was an excellent portrayal of the siege of Jerusalem and was not otherwise burdened down by a phony relationship between a Palestinian and an American Jewish fighter. The pace of the movie did not allow for any meaningful storyline development. Some of the acting was so bad it was laughable, which is sad, because there is no comedy in this story. The lines written only served to exacerbate the bad acting. The shame of it is that while probably low budget, the movie had suffcient props and scenery to have allowed for a better production.

My sad recommendation is to strongly urge you to stay away!