Gmar Gavi'a

A man wanders outside his country, befriends people who are ostensibly unlike the people at home, has some adventures and some heart-to-heart conversations, and comes back having learned a lesson. The same narrative framework recurs again and again in the films of Israeli director Eran Riklis, along with a propensity to sympathetically present the Arab point of view. "Cup Final" is an early example, focusing on an Israeli soldier who is alone behind enemy lines in Lebanon, and it was very popular at the time although Riklis has gone over similar material since with more artistic success-- in "Zaytoun," for example. "Cup Final" seems to use the entire pantheon of well-known Israeli Arab movie actors, and they acquit themselves well although the script is sketchy. Some are still familiar faces more than 25 years later. The star, though-- Moshe Ivgy-- was eventually knocked off his pedestal by the local me-too movement.