2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A light-hearted comedy, subtle and bittersweet!, January 31, 2010
This review is from: The Policeman (DVD)
It took me two tries to watch this, once while sleepy and the other fully awake. I am glad that I watched it the second time, I understood the subtle humor and the clever storyline. I do see now why it was nominated for Best Foreign Film, especially since I have seen worse nominations. But, it lost to
The Garden Of The Finzi Continis, a film by Vittorio De Sica. It is difficult to compete against a De Sica film.
The premise is that a long-time Israeli policeman Azulai, is a good cop, a nice guy, religious, good family man, loves his wife. He had morals with decency. More often, his police skills were questionable as he did not arrest people, but usually letting them go, especially with easy persuading. The gem is to watch him in action. People may associate him with Barney Fife when they observe his style.
To his police force, he was looked at as too nice, rather bumbling and without initiative. In general, in the eyes of the police force, he wasn't worthy. Therefore, his contract was not going to be renewed. At a low rank, he could not retire. So, a scheme is in the making to make him look better.
The special features does have some work of the director, Ephraim Kishon. Subtitles are nice and easy to read. The film preserves well to DVD. I consider this a subtle and lighthearted comedy. But don't expect any wham bam bang up slapstick comedy. It is the depth of the story that in a whole is humorous and quite interesting. You may need to pay attention to the film, even see it twice if needed, but don't watch while sleepy. For another Kishon film, try The Fox. .....Rizzo
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This was Nominated for an Oscar?, June 16, 2009
This review is from: The Policeman (DVD)
I enjoy "discovering" movies and I have come across a great deal of discoveries from the ranks of those films nominated for Best Foreign Language Oscar. Some actually make a splash in the US market but most emerge from and return to obscurity after Oscar Night (at least from American viewers's perspectives). Unfortunately, "The Policeman" should never have emerged into ANY spotlight. This movie is virtually an embarassment. It pretends to be a comedy along the lines of past inept police officers such as Inspector Clouseau, The Keystone Kops, and Barney Fife. The comparison merely lowers it further. I found no humor in "The Policeman"; only inept attempts at humor. There is no real slapstick, there are feeble efforts at comic misdirection, and there really aren't ANY punchlines. The acting (from top to bottom) is unimpressive. I was hoping for some insight to Israeli lifestyle but I doubt I gathered anything useful about that either. Rarely have I ever been so disappointed in a movie.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Calling Constable Azulai..Inspector Clouseau..Constable Azulai.., March 24, 2008
This review is from: The Policeman (DVD)
Two late Israeli greats-Ephraim Kishon(writer-director) and Shaike Ophir(actor)-put together a classic award-winning comedy that will hopefully get its second wind and be seen by tons of people-who aren't familiar with names that should be-household.This classic Israeli comedy-probably can't avoid being compared to Inspector Clouseau and Peter Sellers.So what.In this case- a cop that's too nice for the gig-so the goniffs...ah crooks don't want to lose him-and his bosses do-is a great take on Israel.Israel owes us a Constable Azulai sequel;unfortunately,Ephraim Kishon and Shaike Ophir are irreplaceable.
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