Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona

Some European film connoisseur, browsing thru the IMDB looking for delectable foreign fare, might be misled by the 10's heaped upon this movie to believe that he has chanced upon an undiscovered gem. Well, this movie is in some ways more reminiscent of Ed Wood than of Goudard or Felini. It's a pretty bad movie, shot in a couple of weeks, on a shoe-string budget, by a director who was at the time derided as the inept maker of low-brow comedies ("Burekas movies").

"Giv'at Chalfon" was created as a vehicle for Ha'gashash Ha'chiver- from the '60 thru the '80 known as the funniest people in Israel. On stage these three guys were magic- but the magic of those 10-minute sketches never translated to the several feature films they starred in. "Chalfon" is the closest they came to that- but my feeling is that any non-Israeli watching this will be dumb-struck at the apparent inanity of it all (some nice sexy bits in it, though!). Only an Israeli would crack up at hearing "Sha'a! Kvar Sha'a she'ani mechapes et ha'yam!" It sounds even worse when translated: "An hour! For an hour I have been looking for the sea!" Or how about this following exchange: "Golani?" "Gamasi!" not to mention "BBSHASH" or "Le'Sergio panita- lo ta'ita!" Take my word for it- generations of Israeli's have been having fits at hearing those and other tidbits.

There is no plot, no acting to speak of, the only prop is a sand dune, and you hate it when people are having loud fun around you at a language you don't understand (and when you read the translation it sounds so horribly stupid you are starting to doubt your sanity); Why should anyone want see this movie? Well, I think you at least shouldn't - unless you happen to be a sociologist / anthropologist / political scientist.

"Givat chalfon" was created at a very special point in Israeli history- it was 1975, a year after the trauma of the Yom-Kippur war. More and more people were waking up from the dreams of empire, the army was no longer a sacred cow, and blind trust in the military and political leadership was dead. It was a time of upheaval - and who was better fit than Assi Dayan, son of former hero / current pariah General Moshe Dayan, to deliver the killing blow.

The son of the ultimate Sabra icon, he was a rebel from an early age, refusing to to follow in his father's footsteps. At a time when Israel was infatuated with its image as the blue-eyed, blond boy-wonder of the western world, Assi Dayan was making low-budget, low-brow movies about low-life losers on the edges of Israeli society. "Givat Chalfon" was much more subversive; it takes place in a front out-post of the legendary Israeli army, facing the terrible "enemy"- and look who is manning it: a smarmy, mustachioed con-man who speaks with a Rumanian accent; An Arab-born knuckle-head, who is interested in getting his money back, in finding a husband for his daughter and in finding the sea and fish for "the guys"- when he is captured by the Egyptians he is happy to start reminiscing about the charms of Cairo; The captain is a sex-crazed incompetent, the cook is a snarling bully, the rest of the soliders are a motley crew of sun-struck zombies; the visiting colonel is a handsome joke, and his adjutant a sex-starved vixen. The only "normal" figure here is the

straight-laced sargent who is played for laughs, trying to keep some military facade on it all- including his girl friend, who spends most of the movie running around the so-called military installation in a bikini, with the occasional belly-dance thrown in. All great fun, actually- and also a not-so-subtle poke at any notions of military and cultural superiority over our neighbors.

Why do I love this movie? Well, it's funny - Ha'gashsh Ha'chiver were always that. But it is also a remnant of an Israel that is no more- of a country that was starting to get off its high horse,setting on the road to normality, while managing to keep its sense of community, the ability to laugh at the same things- be they as semi-dumb and shoddily executed as "Givat Chalfon Eyna Ona".

Most Israeli movies are stupid, idiotic, and simply BAD.

But this movie is great, very funny, very good.

This movie tells about the army reservation unit that really is useless and can't deal with themselves.

A must watch if you are an Israeli.

A hilarious comedy. It covers the story of three characters, but concentrates on Sgt. Jinji and the character of Mr. Hasson. Sgt. Jinji is very interested in Yaeli, Mr. Hasson's youngest daughter. After getting into a dispute with a fuming Mr. Hasson who falsely believed Jinji wanted to marry his eldest daughter, Jinji is kicked out of Mr. Hasson's house. Having witnessed the scene, and unbeknownst to Mr. Hasson nor Jinji, Yaeli escapes too and hides in the back of Jinji's jeep, intent to join him despite her father's wishes. On the way to his army base, Jinji picks up Konstanza, a shady businessman, who has been evading reporting to reserve duty for a while. Konstanza also happens to owe money to Mr. Hasson (due to a very dubious business deal gone awry), and Mr. Hasson decides to look for Konstanza to get his money back. All our characters end up in the middle of the desert at a small, somewhat improvised military base.

Indeed the plot isn't particularly sophisticated or even very important (the movie itself doesn't seem to take itself seriously). The beauty in the movie lies in charisma of the main characters (who make up the "Hagashash Haheever", as they're called in Hebrew), in the jokes and humorous scenes that occur between the army authority figures and Jinji, Mr. Hasson, and Konstanza. For myself, it also creates a nostalgic feeling, one that increases as years go by. Israelis will definitely understand and most, I believe, enjoy the humor, but I would recommend this movie to non-Israelis, because after all, it is a classic Israeli film and has certain moments that would make anyone laugh.

The story of a dysfunctional Israeli reservists' unit in the Sinai prior to the 1980 peace deal with Egypt.

Gingi, the unit's sergeant and the only guy around with his head screwed on, sort to speak, desperately tries to keep everything going smoothly, when the regional Colonel is due for a visit.

The plot thickens, when one of the reservists under his command (Victor), ends up in the hands of an equally dysfunctional Egyptian border unit.

While the film is a funny, light-hearted watch, the humour, unfortunately, doesn't translate all that well, and unless you're a native Hebrew speaker, you will miss a few of the important points, that have made it such a cult film in Israel.

All in all, definitely worth a watch!

9\10 people in Israel will tell you that this movie is the best movie ever made by an Israeli. unfortunately this movie simply can't be understood by people who are not Israeli because the vibe of the movie is a comedy about the army in Israel, not just any army and about being Israeli. there are a lot of inside jokes that can only be understood by an Israeli and many different situations that you can't quite understand unless you've been in the same situation like most Israelies were when serving in the army. in Isarel its a cult movie and I doubt the fact that there are Israelies who have not seen this movie, it is broadcast every independent's day and probably once a month in the different channels. so I recommend you watch this film for the first time alone and on the second time with an Israeli that will tell you whats going on. 10\10 for me.