Do not be deceived - I'll start with the low points and rise to apotheosis. Do not miss this flick!
Surprisingly enough, gay men and women have been allowed to serve in the Israeli army for over 2 decades now (for very pragmatic reasons, I'm sure). The army actually authorized the making of this film, based on a true story. Eytan Fox follows up with his favorite theme of sexual identity within the ranks of the army: here we see a gay couple, two officers, whose love shares its space with an ever-escalating Israelo-Arab conflict. The movie is filmed in this army outpost in the mountains bordering Lebanon, in the middle of Winter (thus the snow, that one seldom relates to the Middle East).
The theme is ambitious. Yet, it turns out that, for commercial reasons, the movie's 65 minutes elapse too fast. There is no time to develop the story. Not the story of the conflict, not the story of the different characters - so many deeply interesting -, and especially not the story of Yossi and Jagger. And boy, would we like to know more about them! These 65 minutes may have been OK for the theatre play that staged in Tel Aviv before the movie opened, but on screen it just leaves your mouth watering for more. I wished some scenes would have been deeper and more intense (the get-together at the end, or that last key-scene at night).
Despite all this, if you can forgive small formal nuisances, and get over that irritating camera-in-hand that works for Dogma but not for Fox, this film is a must-see! For the first 30 minutes of it, I had a disbelieving smile on my lips, and really wanted to joint the Israeli army - mind you, I'm neither Jewish, nor Israeli, and they would never take me! Yet life in the barracks seems so laid-back and so easy-going , so much in contrast with the madness of the conflict, with crazy girls and sexy boys, cheesy music in Hebrew and techno parties in the mountain clusters, white snow and great landscape, wild rabbits and sushi at dinner... Provided my officers looked as cute and handsome and so-damn-sexy-and-hugable-Yehudi-Levi (Jagger), of course I would enlist.
Mild as it may seem at times, it's perhaps the most consequent movie on a gay theme that I have ever seen. No tragic queens, no dramatic depressions and people who threaten to slid their wrists open. Yossi & Jagger's love is real and palpable, even if semi-secret (I think everyone new, anyway). The actors are superb, natural-born to the task, and that shows. One can easily relate with many of the characters - people whom we forget are people, just because they are in the army, just because they are in a war. The scene where Yossi and Jagger kiss in the snow is surprising, and by far the most sensuous thing I've seen in cinema in years! Absolutely delicious, playful, teasing, masterful. A classic in the future, I'm sure! Maybe because of that particular scene, one can survive as a viewer to the end of the movie, and still feel light as a feather. It all seems to end up in a good note, in spite of the circumstances.
The film as is, is not brilliant, but is at times a strike of genius! It's also a splash in the pond, showing you the dichotomies of a society we grew to relate with war and nothing else. Yossi & Jagger is a tender, sweet, sensuous, pure, honest, scrumptious, beautiful, sexy and consequent movie. I am a fan of Eytan Fox as of tonight, no doubt about that! Watch it, watch it, watch it!!! (the extras on the DVD give you even greater insight into his work). The storyline won't leave you that soon, and the main theme-song will replay on your head for weeks to come... cheesy and queenly as it may be ('Come', by Rita)!
Watching a film like this oddly makes you feel as good as when you watched 'Amelie'! I don't say this often, but I'd be ready to watch it all over again.
