Hahataim

I liked this film a lot, though I can see how others would find it over-melodramatic, and a few plot points contrived. Let's get the negatives out of the way: Two sisters, one so grumpy, one so sweet? Too much object throwing? A predictable just-in-the-nick-of-time moment? Perhaps. But the heart of the story, a largely true one verified by narrative accounts, is a compelling story not just about the mysteries of the past (yes, the Holocaust, an endlessly rich subject if you're not sick of it as some are), but a relationship between sisters, the ambition of the younger and the angst of the older.

The ambitious sister wants to be a classical composer, which in 1977, when the film is set, is no easy task for a woman. The resulting exceptional score - by three composers including the "real-life" sister - truly carries this film well beyond the commonplace.

Flawed but absolutely worth seeing.

I liked this film very much, more than I expected to after having read the other reviews. All of the acting was superb, as were the interactions between the characters. Yes, it was a bit melodramatic, with crises being resolved at the last minute, but that is true of many films! It felt operatic to me, partially because of the gorgeous music, but also because of the heightened drama of the plot. Before seeing it I wondered, do I really want to see another depressing film about the Holocaust? But it wasn't depressing, and made an important point about the lingering effects of that (or any) trauma on generations to come, and the difficulty with and need for forgiveness.

Greetings again from the darkness. Renowned Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher tackles the familiar topic of Holocaust survivors and drops in a related family mystery, two dueling and personality-opposite sisters, plus numerous sub-plots including: arguing spouses, musical sexism (it's a thing), cancer, and a cross-country investigation. The film was inspired by the autobiography of Dr. Baruch Milch, who is the father of the rival sisters and whose past actions are at the core of the investigation.

It's 1977 West Berlin, and after successfully performing a solo during a concert, no singer wants to be grabbed by a crazy-eyed old lady and accused of being the daughter of a murderer … an act exacerbated by the fact that the accusation is in a language she doesn't understand. This is exactly what happens to young Sephi Milch (played well by Joy Rieger, who reminds of a late 1970's Amy Irving). It's an unsettling moment for Sephi and when she mentions it to her dissident older sister Nana (Nelly Tagar), who also happens to be a journalist/editor, the girls unite for an investigation that will take them deep into the mysterious past of their father.

The sisters of conflict are never really on the same page, as Nana is relentless in pursuit of the truth while the more reserved Sephi can't see the benefit to uncovering something that could tear the family apart. Also, Sephi is focused on her dream of becoming the first respected female classical composer in history. In an odd twist of fate, it's the son of the accusing crazy lady who is instrumental (apologies for the pun) in helping Sephi purse her goal. Thomas Zielinski (played by Rafael Stachowiak) is a well known conductor who is either a creepy guy (with an even creepier mother) with amorous intentions toward Sephi or a generous guy in a position to help the rising star.

The story could have been interesting enough with this foundation, but it becomes cluttered with side stories that actually bog down and divert our attention from what we care about. Doron Tavory plays Dr. Baruch Milch, and though his being a lousy father doesn't make him a murderer, it certainly allows for doubt in both the girls and the audience. Often, the film feels like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces … or worse, including pieces from a different puzzle.

Taking place at a time when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was working towards a peaceful accord with Israel, the film also acts as a reminder that war pushes people into actions that might be out of character, yet necessary in the moment. Should these digressions be forgiven or become one's lingering shadowy legacy? The clashes with past and present, historical and modern, confuse these issues and divert our attention away from two sisters trying to understand the impact of their father's actions during WWII on their family today. The rest is just noise … disguised as beautiful music.

The movie is contrived in a worst possible manner. One has a strong feeling that the director came up with a simple idea and then padded it to fill prescribed time and to make it engaging. It is not engaging. The plot slowly develops making an impression that some terrible secret will be revealed, but actually nothing of notice happens. As a result, one is left wondering why the main character went through all the efforts to hide his past and behaved like he did something terrible, if at the end it turns out he never really did. Finally, the director pulls not stops to manipulate viewers' emotions. All what is missing is a car running over the family dog.

At one of the preview screenings, director Avi Nesher related that Graham Daniel, the revered sound mixer he'd been lucky to cajole into working on this film, compared him to Kubrick as a pain in the neck. Nesher is apparently a perfectionist on the Kubrick level and the results are not only on the soundtrack but also visible on screen in the lighting, the detail, and the recreation of period settings. After a run of four big successes since returning to Israel, it seems Nesher can manage to raise a bit of a budget. Apparently he even rented and repainted a bus just to insert a momentary tribute to one of his previous films (unless that bus was just a visual effect).

What those previous hits had that Past Life doesn't is a coating of warmth and humor. Past Life is based, apparently closely, on a true story about secrets from the Holocaust. It's been very successful in overseas showings, and it might be said cynically that world audiences love to see spiritually tortured Holocaust survivors, especially when the portrayal is spiced with intimations of personal guilt and, above all, an implication that the Arabs of Palestine are the victims of the victims. But although the warmth is missing and so is the humor (except in some wisecracks from one of the main characters, who is based on journalist Shosh Avigail), it's possible to like the film for the right reasons as well as for the wrong ones.

Nesher said that the film has an odd narrative structure because of its faithfulness to the real story. It does have an interestingly odd structure, as well as some nice feints in unpursued directions, a cliché or two, and an ending that may seem less definitive to the audience than it does to the characters. As in all Nesher's recent movies, the acting is first-rate. Nesher continues his practice of casting comedians in straight roles (this time it's Muli Shulman); he's said that whereas those trained as stage actors give top priority to serving the text, comedians understand the importance of keeping the audience's attention at every moment. I wonder whether the movie will be as popular in Israel as his previous few have been.