Customer Reviews

For My Father

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What motivates someone to be a suicide bomber? What makes someone want to strap an explosive vest to themselves and kill dozens of people who have done them no harm? Mostly, I think, it comes down to people doing what they honestly believe is the right thing to do. But what happens when a would-be suicide bomber's bomb fails to go off and he's left questioning his actions? That's where the heart of his movie, For My Father, lies.

The story centers around Tarek (Shredi Jabarin), a Palestinian man who has gotten caught up with a very bad crowd. They persuade him that blowing up himself and others is the best thing to do for his people. The fact that it seems to require several vague threats towards his family if he doesn't do it shows that Tarek is already quite conflicted, even before his bomb fails to go off.

In desperation after the failed detonation, he goes to a Jewish man who runs an electrical repair shop. He orders a new button and, in order to escape notice from the police, offers to repair the man's leaking roof in return. There begins a whole new life for him, where he gets to know the man and his wife and, perhaps more importantly, gets to know the beautiful girl who works across the street. But his old friends aren't so eager to let him go and make it clear that if he doesn't detonate the bomb, they will.

This is a very impressive film about a very dark subject and it doesn't shy away from showing both sides in Israeli/Arab conflict, making it clear that both have good points and both also are willing to behave badly. I find this especially poignant given that I'm writing this only a day after an unpleasant incident where Israelis bordered a cargo ship and killed some people.

The film is very well-written, very well-acted and expertly shot. It dragged a bit in a couple points, but nothing too severe and I found that it left me with a great deal to think about. That alone places is very high above most movies.

What makes someone be a suicide bomber? The answers are as plentiful as the people who do it, and ultimately none of the answers are very good.

Great movie right up to the final minute -- all the plot elements pointed to a positive outcome -- what led the script writer to choose that sorry ending is anyone's guess -- I don't like my emotions to be toyed with and have enough on my plate already. I watched this on Netflix and won't be buying the DVD.

This film does not take sides and gives no easy answers. The film also has all of the qualities that go into making a great movie. First, it has characters that you care about. Second,it is filmed on location. Third it is approximately 90 minutes in length. My feeling that once a movie is more than about 90 minutes, something could have been cut out. The Arab-Israeli fight for the same land is shown through a lens not often seen- the lives and feelings of ordinary people. The bottom line for me is that like the centuries old wars and violence in Ireland and Northern Ireland,the combatants have far more in common-a common passion for life and a common humanity, then those issues that divide them, and oftentimes are in my estimation a smokescreen for power grabs by ruthless and warlike individuals whose interests are served by unending bloodshed.
Maybe I'm naive, but I hold out hope for the Middle east because of the Good Friday Peace accords in Ireland in 1998-that 12 years later seem to be holding. Senator George Mitchell, in my estimation gets the credit, and my understanding of this is that Ireland the UK the USA, said to the 2w warring parties- the IRA and the UVF ok - You- get 50 percent of the sewer system and YOU get 50 percent of the sewer system. You can fight and not cooperate if you like, but 100% of the toilets won't flush. You get 50 percent of the electrical grid and You get 50 % of the electrical grid. If you want your lights to turn on-you are forced to cooperate. Etc with Post Office Parks, potholes, hospitals etc. Perfect? No. But so far the best thing for Ireland in 1000 years in my estimation. Would it work in the Middle east...??
Lastly, Hili Yalon is so hot she almost sets the screen on fire. She is one INCENDIARY actress. Richard Morgan

For My Father/Shabat Shalom Maradona (2008) is an absorbing and complex quest of unyielding emotion, choice, and discovery. Given the choice of regaining your father's honor and cementing your legacy or alienating your family for a person you just met that rekindles your spirit, which would you choose? What if the action for your father would hurt this other person, but not hurting the other person would result in your father's death? All the while your life is on the line! This is Terek (Shredi Jabarin), a young handsome caring man that has found himself in an impossible situation.

Terek arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel and goes to a crowded market where he closes his eyes and prays as he slightly pulls up his sleeve to expose a trigger. He is a Palestinian suicide bomber. Click, click, click - the trigger is broken. He briskly walks away and around a corner to call the mission planner who wants to activate the vest of explosives via a cell phone link but is convinced to wait for him to fix the device and properly use it.

Under the cover of a construction worker needing a new trigger for a nearby work site he visits an electrician named Katz (Shlomo Vishinsky). Katz does not have the part and orders it for delivery in two days. With reports of a terrorist crossing into Israel coming over the radio and police cars driving by, he offers to fix Katz' leaky roof in exchange for the part to keep himself hidden.

Across the street is Keren (Hili Yalon) who runs a small shop after being disowned from her family. They immediately hit it off when he goes over for coffee and we see his human side for the first time as his face lights up when talking to her. Terek has diner with Katz where he feels compassion and sorrow for him after hearing of his sons death. Later that night Terek comes to Karen's aid when she is being harassed by some men for how her life doesn't conform to societies expectations. Tarek is more alive than ever as their feelings continue flourish.

He is being shown life by the people he came to kill - he must decide what he is going to do.

9.5 out of 10 - This film dares to reveal the human side of both sides. There is no political message, no taking sides, and little history of the conflict in the region - it is a story of people. I was kept engaged as the characters interacted and the story unfolded all the way to the ending credits. Perceptually riveting! For My Father was directed by Dror Zahavi and written by Ido Dror and Jonatan Dror; Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.

Dain Binder
Dain's Movie Reviews

Many Israeli films, such as this one, were made by Israelis seeking reconciliation between Arabs and Israelis, and peace. This film focuses on the lives of an Arab and an Israeli family and the troubles each suffers. The language of the film is Hebrew and Arabic, primarily the former, because most of the action occurs in Tel Aviv, but the subtitles in English are clear and easy to follow. Both the Israeli young woman, who for reasons that the film discloses is estranged from her father, but not her mother, and the young Arab, who is trying to protect his family, are very likable. The young woman is hounded by extremist Orthodox Jews and the Arab protects her.

The Arab, for reasons that become clear in the film, agrees to be a human bomb, a terrorist, who will enter the market in Tel Aviv when it is packed with people and blow himself and the Israelis up. But the bomb does not go off, and circumstances mandate that he stay in Tel Aviv for two days and ignite it later. During this time he gets to meet and appreciate some Israelis and especially the young woman.

Viewers will find it interesting to discover why he feels that he has to be a bomber, why the young woman is estranged from her father, can there be a relationship between Arabs and Israelis, how will the Arab's family react to what he does, and how will the Israelis he meets react .

Sad and wonderful movie. Shows that behind a complicated situation, to say the least, there are only human beings trying to live their lives.

This film was well-acted and scripted, giving a realistic representation of the situation involving a suicide bomber. I don't know what bothered me about this movie; maybe that it seemed to drag on for me. Felt very slow and not much happening. Probably a good tension buildup for the ending.

This wonderful film makes my heart so sad both for those who are under bondage to their hatred of others & those who are their victims.

This film follows a young Palestinian would-be suicide bomber through his entry into Israel on his suicide mission. He meets along the way an aging Jewish shop owner mourning the loss of his adult son along with a Jewish woman whom he has a two day love infattuation with.

My only major complaint was that the story ended so sadly. I wish the director would have let the main character live.

"For My Father" (original title: "Shabat Shalom Maradona"; 96 min.) is another release in the on-going and excellent Film Movement series. The movie was originally released in 2008 but it took almost 2 years for it to find wider distribution into the US, to which I can only say "better later than never".

The movie brings 48 hrs in the life of Tarek, a would-be Palestine suicide bomber, who fails to detonate on a Friday morning in a busy open market in Tel Aviv due to a faulty electrical swith. (During the last minute pep-talk to Tarek by the masterminds behind the bombings, one of them says: "Remember why you are doing this. If we had an air force, we wouldn't do this. You are our air force." Chilling.) Tarek now must fix the switch that prevented the bomb from exploding and given that few people are out on the Sabbath, he must wait out the next 48 hrs. Not surprsingly, the would-be suicide bomber comes to notice that most of the Jewish people he intended to kill are just regular and innocent people, each with their own ordinary lives and problems. Tarek even strikes up a friendship/light romance with Keren, a beautiful Jewish woman, and also befriends an old Jewish guy who remains bitter over the death of his son in the Israeli army many years ago. Given that Tarek was blackmailed into becoming a suicide bomber, he has ever-growing doubts about what he intended to do. Then Sunday morning comes around...

I very much enjoyed this movie, as it showcases the human consequences and costs of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Let me be clear: I strongly condemn and oppose any suicide-bombing, regardless from which side it comes. As directed by Dror Zahavi, lead actors Shredi Jabarin (as the would-be suicide bomber) and especially Hili Yalon (Keren) give outstanding performances. "For My Father" won 7 Israeli Academy Awards for good reason. In all, I can't say enough of this movie. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.