It is amazing how little known this film is. Actually it's director is probably the most famous unknown director in Israel. When he received the Israel prize for his work earlier this year many people did not know him at all. He made five movies all over, but some of them were road opening for the Israeli cinema in the direct and sincere approach with the harsh realities of the country and of the area, and other were predicting films to be made later by famous directors ('Masa Alunkot' - dealing with the individual oppressed by militarism) or even events like the political assassination in Israel as in 'Rehovot Ha'Etmol'.
'Nuzhat-al-Fuad' had no commercial distribution that I remember, and only one TV channel here broadcast it after Neeman got the prize a few months ago. It tells a story of two women - Odelia (Yael Hadar) is a director having to deal with a famous father and the trauma of the suicide of her mother during childhood, the other - Tamara (Efrat Gosh) is a rebellious character which is hit by a fatal malady and enters some kind of institution that provides relief for the final days of the patients Here she enters a world that mixes reality and dream, group treatment (?) and fantasy, songs, dance, legends all between the walls and under the sun of the painfully beautiful city of Jaffa, in a space where language and nationality do not matter any longer, which is populated just by human beings with their pains and desire to live.
Camera work is beautiful, the soundtrack mixes classical and contemporary music, with songs written especially for the film, in a manner that reminds Brecht's songs. Acting is wonderful, beyond the two two actresses that I mentioned Mohammed Bakri does a wonderful job in the double role of the father of Odelia and of the painter in the asylum that Tamara meets and connects with. This beautiful and sensible film deserves a much better fate and reception than it has enjoyed until now.
