Review: Vasermil (2007)

Director: Mushon Salmona | 93 minutes | drama | Actors: Nadir Eldad, David Taplitzky, Adiel Zamro

Three guys in Israel, each with a completely different background, have to work together on their soccer team to make the team and their own lives a success. Dima is a very strong Russian immigrant who doesn’t seem to fear anyone. The boy is a drug dealer and is associated with the mafia. Adiel is originally from Ethiopia and lives with his sick mother and little brother. Like Dima, he regularly misses school. Shlomi is an Israeli who lives with his mother, stepfather and sister who delivers pizza to make money.

None of the three boys have an easy time at home and this obviously has a major impact on their lives. When Dima picks up Shlomi’s scooter to race around, Shlomi gets into trouble at work. When he sees Adiel and his brother at his scooter in the evening, he blames them and wants to beat up Adiel. The three cannot go through one door together, but they will have to for the school’s football team.

The three main roles are played by amateurs, who do their job very well. However, the energy of the film comes from the camerawork, because it is raw and follows the pace of the film. “Vasermil” was an unexpected discovery at the Jerusalem International Film Festival in 2007. Mushon Salmona’s debut film won the special jury prize at this festival.

Salmona served in the Israeli army for four years and then went to London to study. He has previously worked on various low-budget short films. “Vasermil” is a concerned look at Israeli society. The film shows that there are still many prejudices between the different population groups and that these prejudices cause major problems. In “Vasermil”, Salmona tries to show that despite the different backgrounds you can work well together, if you want. In the beginning of the film, the three boys seem to take each other’s life, as soon as they are part of the same football team and therefore have the same goal, they turn out to be buddies. Unfortunately, their background continues to haunt them, so “Vasermil” doesn’t end as you would hope for the boys. However, this ending ensures that the film is not one of many, but that it stays with you and makes you think.