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Kedma

  • 2002
  • 1h 40m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
812
YOUR RATING
Kedma (2002)
DramaHistoryWar

In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.

  • Director
    • Amos Gitai
  • Writers
    • Amos Gitai
    • Marie-Jose Sanselme
    • Ghassan Kanafani
  • Stars
    • Andrei Kashker
    • Helena Yaralova
    • Moni Moshonov
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    812
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Amos Gitai
    • Writers
      • Amos Gitai
      • Marie-Jose Sanselme
      • Ghassan Kanafani
    • Stars
      • Andrei Kashker
      • Helena Yaralova
      • Moni Moshonov
    • 14User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
    • 36Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins & 5 nominations total

    Photos5

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    Top cast20

    Edit
    Andrei Kashker
    • Yanush
    • (as Andrei Kashkar)
    Helena Yaralova
    • Rosa
    Moni Moshonov
    Moni Moshonov
    • Klibanov
    Juliano Mer-Khamis
    Juliano Mer-Khamis
    • Mussa
    • (as Juliano Merr)
    Yussuf Abu-Warda
    Yussuf Abu-Warda
    • Yussuf
    • (as Yussef Abu Varda)
    Menachem Lang
    • Menachem
    Sendi Bar
    Sendi Bar
    • Yardena
    • (as Sandy Bar)
    Tomer Russo
    Tomer Russo
    • Milek
    • (as Tomer Ruso)
    Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum
    Veronica Nicole Tetelbaum
    • Hanka
    Liron Levo
    Liron Levo
    • Gideon
    Roman Hazanowski
    • Roman
    Keren Ben Rafael
    Keren Ben Rafael
    • Aisha
    • (as Keren Ben Raphael)
    Gal Altschuler
    • Yigal
    Sasha Chernichovsky
    • Sasha
    • (as Alexander Tchernicovsky)
    Dalia Shachaf
    • Dalia
    Rawda Suleiman
    • Jaffra
    • (as Rawda Sulieman)
    Igor Mirkurbanov
    Igor Mirkurbanov
    • Shimshon
    Blair Portnoi
    • British officer
    • Director
      • Amos Gitai
    • Writers
      • Amos Gitai
      • Marie-Jose Sanselme
      • Ghassan Kanafani
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.0812
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    Featured reviews

    6claudio_carvalho

    I Expected Much More of This Quite Disappointing Movie

    A group of Jewish immigrants arrive in Palestine, after a travel in the vessel Kedma, to live in a kibbutz. While resting on the beach after the disembarking, British troops shoot them, and some of them escape with the support of a Jewish platoon. Sooner they are ambushed by Arabian resistance, who are trying to protect their lands against the Jewish invasion. Yesterday I saw 'Kedma' on DVD and I confess that I was completely disappointed with this low-budget and personal movie. The back cover of the DVD and the Plot Outline of IMDb provide important information about the 'when' the story takes place, which I have not seen in the movie. The story happens in May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel. There is also a boring speech of one of the survivors about the fate of the Jewish people. My vote is six.

    Title (Brazil): 'Kedma'
    4aligant03

    Interesting historically - a controversial but not good film

    I watched this movie on TV because of the interesting subject - the founding of Israel in 1948 or rather the immigration and war that preceded it. The film shows a group of survivors landing ashore in Palestine and their first steps in the new country. They bring all their bad history with them but are supposed to fight for their new country at once. The director raises the controversial issues of Jewish "ethnic cleansing" against the Arab population and Jewish feelings/deeds of revenge after surviving the holocaust. Unfortunately the effort is wasted on a very theatrical, sometimes dull film which was obviously made on a low budget. Also way too intellectual in my eyes, too.
    1ynhockey

    One of the Worst Movies in History

    The story of the founding of the State of Israel is one of war, suffering, refugees, political intrigues, miracles and whatnot. Taking any of the above attributes and making a movie that focuses on it cannot leave you with a bad movie. Even a completely talentless director could make an entertaining film out of the Israeli independence story. But somehow Amos Gitai managed to make even this important and exciting episode of modern history into an amateurish and boring series of scenes, which is hard to actually call a film.

    The movie can be summed up fairly simply: Have you read Antigone, or another similar ancient Greek tragedy? Well, imagine an ancient Greek performance of Antigone filmed with a $200 camera, without any cinematographic additions. The scenes are not linked in almost any way, the dialog seems uninspired, as if read from a piece of paper, and the 'message' of the film is told by a raving side character.

    The acting is terrible, the choice of cast mediocre at best, and while the film makes use of several languages, even someone who understands them will have trouble watching the movie without subtitles, because most of the actors themselves don't pronounce anything correctly.

    In short, a horrible movie from a horrible director. Not recommended to anyone.
    5lee_eisenberg

    I understand that this got intended as a response to "Exodus"

    First of all, I've never read Leon Uris's "Exodus" or seen Otto Preminger's movie adaptation. I understand that it's drawn controversy for simply romanticizing Israel's founding without looking at the expulsion of the people there. As journalist Norman Solomon described it, the movie depicted Arabs as bloodthirsty killers, while depicting the people moving to Israel as heroes no matter what they did.

    So here we have Amos Gitai's "Kedma". This one also depicts events leading up to Israel's establishment as a country. While it takes a grittier approach and even addresses the eviction of the Palestinians, it falls a little flat. It's not a terrible movie by any measure, but it has stretches where little happens. True, movies don't have to have nonstop action, but they should have more than this one has.

    Basically, it's an OK movie. One that I recommend is Julian Schnabel's "Miral", based on Palestinian author Rula Jebreal's works.
    5mleach

    Amos Gitai's latest controversial interrogation of his nation's history.

    Opening with a virtuoso and near-wordless sequence, set in May 1948, in which surviving European Jews arrive by boat in Palestine, eight days before the creation of the state of Israel, the provocative and often controversial Gitaï's latest interrogation of his nation's history and challenging contemporary reality focuses on one of its key originating moments. As the passengers look to disembark, they are shot upon by British troops intent on stopping them, and caught up in the retaliatory fire of the Jewish secret army, seeking to aid their arrival. Proceeding to follow the immigrants on their first steps in the 'promised land', Gitaï casts a considered but unflinching eye over the founding conceits of his country. Putting the issue of territory centre-screen, and given undoubted extra resonance by the current situation in the Middle East, it's also telling about British imperial responsibility in the region. However, at its heart is a personal and communal story, of displacement, anticipation, endurance and comradeship, wide in its appeal and generous, while demanding of all sides, in its understanding.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Liam Neeson in Schindler's List (1993)
    History
    Band of Brothers (2001)
    War

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Quotes

      Yanush: We don't have history, this is the fact. I don't know how to say this in Hebrew. But this is what it is. Our history is the way it is because of the Christians. We didn't want it be like this. We don't want it this way ever. They forced this on us,and we can't help it. Because of this, I am telling you, I'm against this. But I didn't say anything. She didn't exist because of me. You may find it hard to imagine that I am so intensely against this. I'm really disgusted. Think about it, what have we found? Repression, slander, persecution, and sacrifice. Imbuing with hatred, uninteresting. No glory, no advantage. No heroes, no conquerers. Merely a lot of unlucky traces, moan and weep. Always looking for pardon. I ban indoctrinating the Jews stories to our children. Why does it have to be this way? I say to them. From the day we were expelled from our homeland, we became a people without history. The class no longer exists. Some people find it heroic, because we've experienced the suffering. I have nothing to say to this heroism. When a man is despair to no end, anyone can become a hero, whether he wants to or not. Do you understand? I'll talk to you about this kind of heroism, at the gathering this evening. Look, I have quietly experienced all this! Who is to say it could be any better? Look, we endured the suffering but we'll never have enough of it. Because if it's not for this, we will not exist anymore. That is what I wanted to say to you, endure, endure, endure, Under this situation,sorrow is better than joy. We replace action with our suffering. We'd rather expiate with slavery. This is an illusion of reality, of our hope for the future, our beautiful belief, so on and so forth, how dreadful! It's misery that makes us Jews. It proves that we are valiant. Whoever We didn't do anything. This makes sense, in other words, You cannot destroy us, You will never destroy us. There's no power on earth can do that. The power is limited. But our endurance is not! This expounds everything about the exile, affliction, and the Messiah... The amalgamate of these three, causes Jews not to be able to stand up.causes Jews to continuously drip from one people to another people. causes us to be pursued by hatred by hatred... in exile and exile. How they like this. The richer they get, the more valuable Jerusalem becomes... In exile, our pyramid is built with affliction at the bottom, with our Messiah at the top. The code of Judaism resembles the book of the nether world ! Thousands of men, all of them.in the 2000 years became insane. How admirable, what abominable people! Abominably insane. This kind of insanity is intentional. It comes out of the belief of the Messiah. It's simply a made-up story. Without this made-up story. Everything will be different. In order to end this nightmare, they should end in Palestine or elsewhere. It will compel them to think about their future. You need not do the things you need to. The Messiah will come soon, and he will settle everything. Likewise, anything you should do is to be banned. Banned! We should go on in exile in perpetuity, until the Providence feel that he should rescue us? I... I think... Israel is no longer the country of Jews, not now, but at least in the future. Time will tell us. It's all over. Finished.

    • Connections
      Featured in Independence: Around the Film 'Kedma', a Film by Amos Gitai (2002)

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    FAQ16

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 22, 2002 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • France
      • Israel
      • Italy
    • Official site
      • Israel Film Fund (Israel)
    • Languages
      • Hebrew
      • Arabic
      • German
      • Polish
      • Russian
      • Yiddish
    • Also known as
      • Кедма
    • Filming locations
      • Hadera, Israel(boat scenes)
    • Production companies
      • Agav Hafakot
      • Arte France Cinéma
      • Agav Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $10,067
    • Gross worldwide
      • $299,293
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 40m(100 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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