Practical Magic (1995)

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A Jewish Moroccan immigrant family living in Israel is nearly destroyed by conflicts resulting from generational differences in this arresting Israeli drama. It begins as Cheli, a successful but emotionally troubled talk show host who has been unable to deal with her traumatic childhood is traveling to attend her father's funeral. She is accompanied by her mentally ill sister Pnina and her adopted estranged daughter. It is a hellish trip and as they travel, flashbacks chronicle their painful youth. Rachel had always wanted to break away from her family's Moroccan heritage and so spent much time trying make herself fit in with her Israeli peers. She was humiliated by her poor, ignorant family. Her father was an overbearing, blindly religious fanatic and their mother was a witch who manipulated the family by casting spells. She feared her mother, and despised her insane sister, to whom she was very cruel. Cheli's older brother Shlomo was the most normal one in the bunch. But after he impregnated his girlfriend and took her to a midwife for an abortion, the girlfriend's angry brother retaliated by getting Pnina pregnant. Pnina's mother then cast a powerful spell and caused the hapless girl to miscarry. The culmination of their weird childhood came as Rachel was preparing to leave for prep school. Something horrible happened between the sisters and neither have been quite the same since. Though Cheli now feels guilty, she is too neurotic to make proper amends. The film is also titled Practical Magic and Sh'Chur. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi