Product Details

• Actors: Smadar Sayar, Naama Schendar, Danny Geva, Katia Zinbris, Ami Weinberg
• Directors: Dalia Hager, Vardit Bilu
• Writers: Dalia Hager, Vardit Bilu
• Producers: Itai Tamir, Marek Rozenbaum
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Hebrew
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Ifc
• DVD Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000OCY7KS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #81,668 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Close to Home" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

CLOSE TO HOME - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars living with terrorism, August 23, 2007

By 

Roland E. Zwick (Valencia, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Close to Home (DVD)

Imagine living in a world where the bus you are riding on could, at any given moment, detonate into a fiery deathtrap in a deliberate act of mass murder, or the café you are sitting at be rocked to its very foundations by a well-placed briefcase filled with explosives. How would living in so perpetual a state of high alert affect the things you did, the places you went to, the people you saw? And how would such an environment determine the structure of the society itself, the laws it prescribed and the way in which it treated its people? And could terrorism itself become such a commonplace and familiar fact of everyday life that even it might lose the ability to shock and horrify the very people closest to it?

Finding the means of successfully combating terrorism has, of course, become a life-or-death necessity for the people of Israel. One of their responses to the threat has been to instigate mandatory military service for all their young people. Another has been to subject Arabs to legal random searches - simply for being Arabs. In the Israeli film, "Close to Home," Smadar and Mirit are two young Army officers whose job it is to check the ID's of anyone in their assigned area who happens to look like a Palestinian. Possibly because they have grown up with terrorism as a regular part of their lives, these girls seem to have developed a strange immunity to its effects, for neither seems overly impressed with the seriousness of the job they are doing - although, of the two, Mirit is a little more concerned about what might happen to them were they found to be in any way derelict in their duties. Smadar and Mirit are not exactly natural buddies, but, over time, they develop a certain tenuous closeness that seems sure to blossom into a full-fledged friendship by the end of the story.

"Close to Home" is more of a naturalistic study of the day-to-day lives of these two women than it is a heavily plotted narrative. Most of the film is spent chronicling their interactions with their military superiors, the random people they are forced to interrogate, and, most importantly, each other. Smadar Sayar and Neama Shendar create believable, memorable characters who perform their task more out of a sense of duty than a fiery love of country. It's only when an explosion hits a little too close to home that they are, at least momentarily, shaken out of their lethargy. But even that doesn't last for long, as the girls begin to slack off at their jobs once again, with Smadar becoming an ever more potentially corrupting influence on the decidedly less rebellious Mirit.

If the filmmakers, Vardit Bilu and Dalia Hager, have a political point to make, it is well hidden beneath the deceptively casual surface of the girls' relationship. For this is, first and foremost, a story about Smadar and Neama, about two Israeli youngsters who, despite the extraordinary conditions under which they are forced to live, are basically interested in the same things that preoccupy young people the world over: moving away from home, pursuing romantic interests, deciding on hairstyles and fashions. If anything, the filmmakers seem to be saying that it really isn't possible for the human mind to exist in a state of constant readiness no matter how great the threat, that eventually the concerns of common everyday life will rise to the surface and crowd most everything else out. Bilu and Hager clearly acknowledge the reality of the terrorist threat, but they also know that a life ruled by fear is no life at all.

In a subtle but persuasive way, the movie also raises the extremely touchy question of just how far a nation should go in abrogating the civil liberties of any single group in exchange for increased safety. It is an issue Israel has been dealing with throughout its entire existence, and the moviemakers clearly acknowledge that there is no simple solution to that conundrum - a conundrum that has, over the years, become increasingly relevant beyond the limits of the Israeli border.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life the way most of us don't know it, August 10, 2009

By 

Jaroslav Melgr "jaroski" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close to Home (DVD)

The movie tells the story of two young female soldiers serving their mandatory military service by patrolling the streets of Jerusalem and checking ID cards of Arabs and Palestinians passing through. Mirit is shy and wants to do what is right. She partnered with Smadar who isn't pleased to be with Mirit, whom most other female soldiers in their unit perceive as a stiff. At first they don't get along at all and their issues reflect in their performance. As their commanding officers press them to do better Mirit and Smadar end up worming up to each other and start to work together. They still have their issues and differences, but their care for each other shows when a suicide bomber strikes nearby....

This movie is a bit slow however it's not intended to be an action movie. There are some scenes where either Smadar or Mirit seem to behave somewhat irrationally. But that really seems to be the point of the movie as this is a story about life in a world of constant tension and uncertainty. And one way to cope with it is to do something that may seem irrational. This is something most of us don't really know anything about nor can we quite fully comprehend what it's like. One thing is for sure, watching this movie will make you appreciate what you have.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious, yet flawed, March 10, 2010

By 

JR Mann "hochunkguy" (Winnetka, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Close to Home (DVD)

Close to Home (Karov La Bayit) ends with an, assumedly, Arab man being pummeled to death by a crowd, over the objections of the two protagonists. We don't see the beating, as the filmmakers choose to not portray violence on screen. (An earlier bombing occurs off screen and we just see its relatively benign after effects.)

While Close to Home is about two women doing their obligatory duty in the Israeli Defense Force, the filmmakers appear to have two agendas, one a simple coming of age theme and the second, women caught up in a ridiculously male-oriented organization.

Viewers of any gender will alternately identify and reject both lead characters and their peculairities. In that, is the strength of the movie as the filmmakers aren't afraid of making both leads human, even if it borders on stereotypes (the timid rule-follower and the brash rule-breaker.)

For exposure to a world and country that is seldom featured in movies, Close to Home is worth a look.