O Jerusalem (2007)

Directed by Elie Chouraqui and written by Elie Chouraqui and Didier Le Pechaur. Together they made a mediocre movie about an interesting subject. Made like a TV movie of the week, its dialogue was about as gripping as a didactic an educational film you might have sat through in grade school while passing notes.

I am not sure what was worse, the bad acting or the cheesy clichés in the script. From the very start, you see the actors missing beats and using over the top emotional responses. It didn’t worry the film-makers if the movie made emotional sense, instead it just told you something like “pain here, “or “joy here.”

O Jerusalem tries to tell the story of the birth of the nation of Israel in an even handed manor. Nothing does that better than casting an aging French pop star, Patrick Bruel, as a main character.

At best, it gives a basic outline of events around 1948 Palestine/Israel. It speaks of some of the basic arguments on both sides of the issue while giving respect to each. It shows British compliancy, and the greater Arab hypocrisy in terms of the conflict. On the hand the movie, focuses too much on European Jews who came to Palestine after World War II. It would have been wise to focus on Jews that have been in the area since biblical times; who have never left the area in thousands of years. Those people were mentioned but never shown. Big mistake! It did a good job at showing the different factions on both sides and the consequences of their actions.

I suppose it could be a good film for someone not aware of the events. The use of archival news footage is highly effective in giving a taste of realism.

It is hard to say that because many of the people who are the most passionate, especially college students, know relatively little of the historical events (even if they think they do), and with passions so high you wonder if opinions could be altered.

Tovah Feldshuh returns to her brilliant off-Broadway portrayal of Golda Meir. Ian Holm certainly gets the hair right for playing Ben Gurion.

Watching the film did remind me of my three week trip to Israel. There are many reminders of the wars there. Left intentionally are the shot up military vehicles on the side of the road to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv or vice versa.

For all that the movie gets right; you still have to suffer through a poor film. O Jersusalem stars JJ Field, Said Taghmaoui, Maria Papas, Patrick Bruel, Ian Holm, and Tova Feldshuh.