Yoram Hattab Movies
Filmmaker Amos Gitai was a first-hand witness to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which troops from Egypt and Syria chose one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar to launch a surprise attack on Israel. This film examines the short but bloody conflict through the eyes of a student, Weinraub (Liron Levo). Weinraub and his friend Russo (Tomer Russo) have been instructed to join a special military unit on the Golan Heights shortly after the fighting begins, but in the confusion they are instead thrown in with an emergency medical team led by Dr. Klauzner (Uri Ran Klauzner). Weinraub and Ruso help Klauzner and his men rescue the wounded, and they find themselves in as much danger as the soldiers on the front line, as the fighting rages on around them and their helicopter is hit by enemy fire. Meanwhile, on the ground another doctor (Pini Mittleman) tries to preserve an oasis of calm and medical discipline in the midst of war. Kippur was shown in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Uri Ran Klauzner
A dark drama of women living in a society where they are second-class citizens, Kadosh/Sacred begins with Meir, an Orthodox Jew living in the Mea Shearim district of Jerusalem, greeting the day with his morning prayers, which includes the phrase, "Thank you, oh Lord, for not having made me a woman." Meir begins to understand just how poorly regarded women can be in the Orthodox faith when his rabbi suggests he should leave his wife. Meir and Rivka (Yael Abecassis) have been married for ten years and have a solid relationship based on affection and mutual respect. However, they have been unable to have children, and as Meir is reminded, the Talmud says a woman without children may as well be dead. Consequently, the rabbi advises Meir to divorce Rivka and take up with a younger woman who can give him a family. Meanwhile, Rivka's younger sister, Malka (Meital Barda), is soon to wed Yossef (Uri Ran Klauzner) in a match arranged by their parents, even though Malka loves another man, Yaakov (Sami Hori), who has dared to question the teachings of the Orthodox faith. Yossef soon proves to be blind to Malka's emotional and physical needs, and she begins to wonder how long she can continue to live within this circle, even though it is the only world she knows. Destined to be controversial in its native Israel, Kadosh/Sacred was shown in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yaël Abecassis, Yoram Hattab, (more)
