Review: Israeli Movie Broken Wings a Study in Contradictions

Morning Edition: March 19, 2004

BOB EDWARDS, host:

"Broken Wings" is one of the most successful Israeli movies of recent years. Its won nine of Israel's equivalent of the Academy Awards, and it's taken top prizes at the Tokyo, Berlin and Jerusalem film festivals. Los Angeles Times and MORNING EDITION critic Kenneth Turan says it deserves them.

KENNETH TURAN reporting:

"Broken Wings" is, like its homeland, a study in contradictions. It's an unashamed melodrama that brings a touch of realism to well-drawn characters. Though it makes no mention of the crisis in Israeli-Palestinian relations, it's also recognizable as the product of a culture bereft of hope.

SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC

TURAN: "Broken Wings" is the feature film debut of writer and director Nir Bergman. It's basically a kitchen-sink drama, an engrossing look at dysfunctional family life as it both might and might not be lived anywhere. In "Broken Wings," the unexpected death of a husband and father causes a crisis in the lives of surviving family members. The mother can barely drag herself to work, leaving her rebellious 17-year-old daughter to manage her three unhappy younger siblings.

SOUNDBITE OF "BROKEN WINGS" IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TURAN: This may sound like the kind of situation we've seen too much in various Sundance endeavors but it's not. Because of the sensitivity of the acting and the honesty of the characterizations, we empathize with this family to a remarkable extent. And it helps that the cast steers clear of the overacting typical of so many Israeli films.

Yet "Broken Wings" is also inescapably melodramatic, the kind of film where big tragedies strike and bad things happen to good people on dark and rainy nights.

SOUNDBITE OF "BROKEN WINGS" IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TURAN: But because "Broken Wings" has won our trust, has given some heft to its characters and involved us in their lives, we go with the melodrama.

SOUNDBITE OF "BROKEN WINGS" IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

TURAN: But the film also has a subtext. Even the title of "Broken Wings" suggests not only a damaged family but a society where things are falling apart and the center does not hold. Even if the protagonists manage to come up with solutions, they will be hard won and hard to apply.

EDWARDS: The comments of Kenneth Turan, a movie critic for MORNING EDITION and the Los Angeles Times.

It's 11 minutes before the hour.

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