Beyond the Mountains and Hills – Me’ever Laharim Vehagvaot (2016)

Directed by: Eran Kolirin | 89 minutes | drama | Actors: Alon Pdut, Mili Eshet, Shiree Nadav-Naor, Noam Imber, Yoav Rotman, Ala Dakka, Oneg Efron, Suzanna Papian, Naama Preis, Shani Rotenberg

Vicarious shame is the first feeling we get with David (Alon Pdut), the male lead of ‘Beyond the Mountains and Hills’. He served in the Israeli army for a long time – like so many compatriots, and after his ‘retirement’ sells nutritional supplements at home; as we can determine in the occupied West Bank. David looks beaten, as if he has been robbed of his manhood.

More specifically, not just David, but his entire family (wife and two teenage children) is the protagonist in ‘Beyond the Mountains and Hills’. David is the originator of a series of seemingly unrelated events, all of which have to do with personal tensions and tensions between population groups in the State of Israel, such as: distrust of Arabs, male pride, the love for one’s own culture and the morality of youth.

All these elements are reflected in the actions of the family members, making this atmospheric drama somewhat artificial. And although ‘Beyond the Mountains and Hills’ is full of ideas and powerful scenes and the film has a good casting, it never becomes a running whole. That is also in the visual aspect: in this the film is scanty, both in terms of camera work and timing; the black transitions between the scenes are sometimes even disturbing.

For example, an emotion that takes time – such as confessing to an affair – is simply cut off. ‘Beyond the Mountains and Hills’ seems like a rush job, also in the lack of dramatic choices. In just 85 minutes, it tells the story of the budding love of David’s daughter (Mili Eshet) and a wanted Arab, the relationship between a teacher and a student, and the tale of a man in midlife crisis.

In the end, everything is tied up according to the rules, and we feel a bit better again, but we doubt whether the keyhole surgery by director and screenwriter Eran Kolirin was completely successful.