Ha'Mishlahat

A group of Israeli highschool pupils go on a trip to Poland to visit the sites where the Nazis systematically exterminated European Jews during world war II. They also want to have fun, get drunk and get laid. It is a mixture of national sentiments, hormones and tears. This film masterfully takes you through different emotional states with a sure, subtle and gentle hand. Nothing seems to be overdone. All the parts combine beautifully to insightfully sketch a universal coming-of-age story. The cast is great, the original soundtrack is a great touch and the film is visually awesome. Well done. Loved it.

The movie is from a visual point of view actually really well made, filmed and edited. The color manipulation works flawlessly and the overall aestetich is not bad at all. The acting is also great, but plot-wise it's confusing and at times you completely loose the track of events. A lot of scenes were not important and did not contribute to the plot of the movie at all. The plot itself was extremely puzzling and I didn't even understand what was the movie about before reading the reviews afterwards.

Apparently, it's about teens' finding their true selves alongside a trip they're on that also tells us about their perspective on past historical events. Most of which is told by visuals instead of them talking about it wich leaves us to assume their thoughts/feelings. That normally wouldn't be a problem but the way it's done in this movie just doesn't work and you're left completely confused, not understanding what each character meant to say or do, and why they said or done a specific thing.

In Israel it's common to organize Holocaust themed educational trips to Poland for high school students, in Hebrew those are called 'delegations', which is not exactly how the word is used in English but this very well explains the title of the film.

The main characters are three Israeli students, who are on this trip; they are shown the main Holocaust historical places like Treblinka or Auschwitz camps, now turned into museums, but the film is not only focused on that. What we see in the foreground is what is happening in the heads and hearts of those 17 year-olds; the film focuses on their emotional and social needs, their loves and friendships, the Holocaust reminder being the background. Personally, at least two of the three main characters are not very nice (both for us to observe and to each other): one of them is totally neurotic and the other is just stupid. The third one's storyline is a little bit more interesting but I shouldn't start spoiling.

The whole picture is very cute, shows no good or bad; it gives us a little reminder of the history, delicately mixing it with what resonates and seems important to this new generation, whose maturity starts to take shape.