The Human Resources Manager (2010)

Directed by: Eran Riklis | 103 minutes | drama | Actors: Mark Ivanir, Reymond Amsalem, Gila Almagor, Noah Silver, Guri Alfi, Rosina Kambus, Julian Negulesco, Papil Panduru, Bogdan E. Stanoevitch, Irina Petrescu, Yigal Sade, Sylwia Drori, Danna Semo, Ofir Weil, Roni Koren

Director Eran Riklis is one of the faces of the young, thriving Israeli film industry, in which the films subtly touch on national themes, without having to deal with ‘the Israeli conflict’ one by one. It is precisely by telling smaller stories that the Israeli story is told, which has so many different sides that we hardly hear about. For example, about the small dusty villages where nothing ever happens, about the Druze community or about Eastern European guest workers. Riklis also likes to tell a small story with big meanings, and with ‘Syrian Bride’ and ‘Lemon Tree’ has already made a name for himself as a director who is capable of producing sensitive tragicomic films. Whereas his main characters were previously an unhappily married Druze and an unjustly treated Palestinian widow, in the tragicomic ‘The Human Resources Manager’ a female victim is again the most important character; she’s just not alive anymore.

The young Romanian guest worker Julia Petracke is the only character in the film whose name is mentioned. Besides her there is the Human resources manager, the ‘widow’, the ‘consul’ and her husband, Julia’s son and her mother. The Human resources manager – like most other characters – is not immediately presented as an empathetic man in the first few minutes. He does his job at Jerusalem’s largest bakery without too much effort, sees his ex-wife no more than necessary and slowly loses the bond with his daughter. The indifference – of others as well as his own – he is confronted with ultimately makes him decide to do the right thing.

When the local newspaper gets wind of Julia’s death, the coverage turns to the bakery’s fault. The headmistress, an illustrious figure only called “the widow,” instructs the Human Resources manager to get the deceased’s body to her family. Once arrived in Romania, it turns out that the woman’s teenage son insists on taking his mother’s remains to their native village on the other side of the country. This means a real road trip for the initially grumbling HRM, who is joined against his will by the nagging journalist who was initially responsible for the riot; the consul’s husband who is also a chauffeur, and finally the grief-stricken son.

The landscape is impressive and rugged; the conditions are appalling and the bureaucracy laughable – as befits a road movie. And as in most road movies, the destination is ultimately less important than the journey itself, in which the Human Resources manager mainly develops himself and in the process pulls the young son of the deceased out of the gutter and out of his shell. While the ingredients could have come across as predictable, the film certainly isn’t. The calm atmosphere that Riklis manages to create, together with the surprising characters, ensures a story that continues to fascinate. Due to the slow build-up, the emotion that slowly seeps through to HRM from that moment on is also that of the viewer. In short, a successful road movie that manages to amaze the viewer with a smile and a tear.