Customer Reviews

Free Zone

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4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This 2006 Israeli film certainly has good acting. It stars Natalie Portman as an American in Israel who has just broken up with her fiancé. She's in a cab and crying a lot. The cab driver, an Israeli woman played by Hanna Lesko, is on her way to Jordon to recover a debt owed her husband. The American woman convinces Hanna to take her along. Hanna's quite a strong personality and as the two women go into Jordon, we get a chance to see the way of life - the checkpoints, the distrust, the dry and unforgiving landscape. Eventually they meet Hiam Abbass, a Jordanian woman who works for the man who owes Hanna's husband $30,000. None of these women trust each other but eventually they bond.

Basically it is a film about the clash of cultures and the hardships on both the Israelis and the Jordanians. I think the film paints a good picture of life in these countries. The acting is excellent too. But the story is so confused that it is hard to follow the plot and I actually revisited some parts of this film in order to figure out what was happening. I never did figure it out. Sorry, but I just can't recommend it.

I've been on a run of great movies out of Israel (more on that later), and as a result of Amazon's helpful feature "if you liked this, we might recommend that to you", I fell upon this movie.

"Free Zone" (93 min.; originally released in 2005) is at its most basic, an unconventional road movie. Rebecca (Natalie Portman) has just broken up with her finace and is in a cab to get away from it all. The initial 7-8 minutes of the movie is just a close-up of Portman, clearly in distress trying to cope with the break-up (while credits are rolling and "Had Gadia", a traditionak Passover song, is playing. It is one of the most amazing openings of a movie I have seen in a long time. The cab driver is Hanna (played by Hanna Laslo), and as it turns out, Hanna needs to go to the Free Zone near the Jordan-Israeli border to collect some money that is owed to her husband. In the Free Zone, they meet up with Laila (Hiam Abbas), who is the contact person for collecting the money. You'll have to see for yourself how it all plays out. This is a slow-moving film, which is fine by me but not for anyone in a hurry. I thought Natalie Portman gave another outstanding performance. Hanna Laslo won Best Actress award at the 2005 Canned Film Festival, where this movie made quite a splash.

As already mentioned, I've had the good fortune of catching a number of really engaging movies out of Israel the last couple of months, including Lemon Tree, Or My Treasure, For My Father, Seven Minutes in Heaven, and of course last Fall's theatrical release Lebanon. I can now add "Free Zone" to that list of "recommended" movies.

I am a huge Natalie Portman fan but I could not get into this movie. The most annoying part is when they overlap two, sometimes three transparent scenes at one time making it difficult to even look at. It hurt my eyes. The opening scene where Natalie Portman is crying seemed overly forced, unnatural, and unnecessary. Additionally, I love watching movies with subtitles. The only part that is subtitled is when they are speaking a different language. I am glad that I bought it, but I will probably not watch it again.

This is a good movie with some important Mid East understanding. It's worth a look if the Mid East concerns you.

Natalie Portman is Natalie Portman, and there is nowhere to go from there.

She was born in Isreal, and her heart is in this movie.

I'm not a fan of Natalie Portman (she can't act, she can't act here either) so I really wanted to like this movie. It has a naturally inert or sluggish moving story without any tension or build-up. It has the most absurd and drudging compilation of frames.

The first scene is Natalie Portman's spoiled face, crying, for ten dormant minutes. Natalie Portman is an American with a Jewish history, she is in Hanna's car. Hanna is an Israeli car driver, devoid of any sensation and remarkedly slow in brain movement. Toss in an apathetic Palestinian woman.

Free Zone (2005) brings together three boring women, from three drudging cultures, who live in three tedious countries, involved in three hazardous times. Anyone unfamiliar with the fascist military power politics of the Israeli occupation may find this film confusing. Israel is a military occupation force in Palestine.

The movie's message is unclear and deliberate. Watch it if you enjoy markedly slow movement in cinema and like departing on very long, boring car rides with overindulgent Natalie Portman that lead to pointless destinations with two other devoid women.

I could not make much sense of this movie. All the stars go to Alberstein's beautiful song "Hada Gadia"