Time of Favor
| Time of Favor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Joseph Cedar |
| Produced by |
David Mandil Eyal Shiray |
| Written by | Joseph Cedar |
| Starring |
Aki Avni Tinkerbell Idan Alterman Assi Dayan Abraham Celektar |
| Music by | Jonathan Bar Giora |
| Cinematography | Ofer Inov |
| Edited by | Tova Asher |
| Distributed by | Blue Dolphin Film Distribution Ltd. |
|
Release date
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November 30, 2000 (Israel) |
|
Running time
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102 min. |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | Hebrew |
Time of Favor (in Hebrew, Ha-hesder) is Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar's 2000 debut film, starring Aki Avni. The film plays out a psychologically complex love triangle in the middle of terrorist conflict in the Israeli occupied West Bank.
The New York Times called it an "art house thriller," and the Los Angeles Times said it was "one of the most successful contemporary Israeli films."
Manachem, a handsome young soldier in the Israeli Defense Force, is offered his own unit, made up of fellow students from Rabbi Meltzer’s West Bank Yeshiva. Menachem's close friend Pini is one of the star scholars at the Yeshiva, and Rabbi Meltzer, in an attempt to play matchmaker, promises Pini his daughter Michal's hand in marriage. But Michal, strong-willed and independent, has no interest in marrying Pini, who is weak and in poor health. Instead, she falls for Menachem, and his loyalty to the Rabbi and to his friend Pini are tested as he struggles to choose between Michal and the unit.
Michal confesses to Menachem that she cannot stand living in her father's settlement. “This land of Israel is bought with pain,” says Michal, as she looks out on the sandy mountains of the West Bank. She believes that her father, the Rabbi, is too caught up in the Israeli cause and neglects those closest to him, like Michal's late mother who died of cancer after the Rabbi refused to leave the settlement to take her to the city for proper medical care. She resolves to run away, and asks Menachem to come with her. But Menachem feels guilty on account of Pini and the Rabbi, and leaves the settlement to return to his military base.
Menachem's unit had been mobilized by the Rabbi with the purpose of returning Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock to the control of Israel -- a holy shrine in the ancient city that Moslems use as a mosque and Jews call Temple Mount. Menachem agrees with Rabbi Meltzer's plan in principle, regarding the group's activities as more symbolic than anything else. Other military authorities are wary of his plan, believing the Rabbi's soldiers could easily turn into a fanatical terrorist group with the wrong twist of the political winds.
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Wikipedia