Broken Wings

More and more these days I come out of a film feeling cheated. I find that especially true of American films where technically everything is wonderful and yet there is an emotional laziness that makes me feel unfulfilled. The writer needed to write three more drafts and the director should have gone the extra mile with the actors but instead chose to focus on lens choices and fast slick cuts. Broken Wings is the antithesis of this phenomena. A wonderfully unpretentious, deeply personal and beautifully written piece that leaves you with the feeling that perhaps your life isn't so bad after all. The film follows the life of a mother and her four children desperately trying to cope with the emotional and financial aftermath of their father's death. The brilliance of the writing in my opinion lies in the ability of writer/director Nir Bergman to convey the devastating fatigue and hopelessness of poverty with a wonderful wit and humor. The camera serves the plot rather than the ego of the camera man. The entire cast delivers a remarkable performance that is understated and personal. Eliana Magon who plays the little girl, looks like she is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Run to see this movie.

One of the best Israeli films ever. Israel had good actors, and good drama but never before have I seen such a well developed script. I guess the secret belongs to the fact that the movie started as a short film when Nir Bergman studied cinema, and then he developed it to a full length movie. Moreover, this movie is one of the representatives of the new Israeli movie age, after understanding Israel cannot produce big budget American style movies, and started producing small touching movies.

The story in a nutshell is about a single mom with four kids, trying to overcome the loss of their father. The movie time quota is within one week, so everything happens very fast, and sometimes it feels like someone is hitting you with a hammer in the stomach. other times it feels like someone is squeezing you for tears. Generally speaking the movie sure is an emotional roller coaster.

The movie follows the story of the rebellious daughter who is torn between her will to be a singer and her family duties because her mom is working night shifts as a nurse. It also follows the enigmatic closed son who had to be the strong man of the family because of the death of the father, and the effect the death had on his personality, emotions, and his functioning in school. Last but not least is the small child who has some kind of an accident during the film, which makes everything move even faster and more emotional.

The actors (especially Maya Meron, but that's because I'm a fool for her) are doing a great acting job and are very moving and realistic.

All in all, this is a great movie, highly recommended.

Maya is a teenager who has hopes of someday having a better life through her singing. However, on the night of her first gig she is called home to look after her young brother and sister while her mother goes to a night-shift at the hospital. This is the pattern of Maya's life since her father died about 9 months before – her mother Dafna never seems to be around, her elder brother seems to be on a downward spiral of depression while the youngest children seem adrift and distant.

Whenever I sit down to watch a film that comes from Israel, it is tempting to assume that the film will deal with or at least touch on the troubles there. That was the case with this film and I was pleasantly surprised that this was actually a drama about teenage relationships and difficulties. The plot focuses on Maya but draws in the other characters into a story that is rather low-key and small but manages to be involving and rather moving. It's not perfect of course and some viewers may find it's pace a little slow and the insular nature of the drama to be a little folded in on itself (especially if you expected the wider conflicts to be drawn into it in some way). As a teenage drama this is rather touching and is an enjoyable little drama that is based on a well written script.

The performances are also very good and there aren't really any weak links in this regard. Maron is well cast and her Maya is interesting and sympathetic. Banar has a more difficult role but does it well and keeps the audience with her. Gaviratz is good even if his character is the most difficult to get to know; the younger children are also good and rise above the usual cute performances that Hollywood seems to draw from kids on a regular basis. The film paints a small family drama on a little canvas and the good cast are a major part of producing a story that really engages.

Overall this is an enjoyable little family drama that is quite involving and quite touching. The characters are well written and well delivered by a roundly good cast. Short and bittersweet and well worth a watch if you can find it – everywhere in the world there are families and teenagers and everywhere in the world they have conflict.

"Broken Wings (Knafayim Shvurot)" is a frank, involving portrait of a family coping with grief and stress.

Even more than such films as "Ordinary People," debut writer/director Nir Bergman has a sure touch in showing us the pressures and responses of a full range of individual family members, from the depressed working mother to her children -- five year old daughter, ten year old son, and and their teen brother and sister.

Within very realistic crowded and complicated living, working, school, and peer friendship environments, we see each as distinct individuals with guilts, needs, issues, and talents, and as the dependent members of a family unit dealing with past and present pain and crises, including through music.

I don't know the technicalities of the film stock, but the grittiness of the cinematography contributes to the naturalism, as well as the un-Hollywood, un-pretty look of the actors.

As an Israeli film what also adds to how touching it is is its non-political, non-geographically-necessary-specific content. This is just a beautiful human story of love and responsibility.

While the opening credits are bilingual Hebrew and English, the closing credits, annoyingly, are not.

Going into this movie i had little knowledge regarding the film just the basic plot and that it had won some awards in Israel. In fact it's the first ever Israeli film i've ever seen.

Looking at the rather simple plot line I was worried that it would be too boring. I gotta say that despite the simple plotline that it was still rather meaningful as I'm sure many families around the world experience such trials in their lives. Parents and their children fighting even over the smallest things.

I just thought they could have expounded a little more on the lives of the family after the death of the father. Indeed too short at 80 mins. I thought the acting was pretty good especially from the two lead actresses. You could really feel the tension between the two as they argue.

Nice film overall with good acting performances