Israeli director Eran Kolirin burst onto the world cinema stage about a decade and a half ago with his second film, “The Orchestra’s Visit,” which dealt with coexistence between Jews and Arabs. These were other days in many ways, also because the world was still following the Israeli-Arab conflict with great interest and cautious optimism. Thanks to this and thanks to its quality, the film broke box office hits in Europe and America, and in the end was also an inspiration for a successful musical.
In the meantime, Collierin has directed two more challenging films that have received less resonance, “The Swap” and “Beyond the Mountains and the Hills.” This weekend, after a wait of more than a year following the Corona, his fifth and ever-political film, “Let There Be Morning,” based on Sayed Kashua’s book, is released. This time, too, the conflict is at the center, but this time he never cared again.
In America he did not even make it to the shortlist for the Oscars. In Europe he did make his Cannes Film Festival debut, but left without a prize. Ironically, the competition in which he participated won a Russian film, which today was banned from the event in the first place. The international film industry is flexible and dynamic when it comes to its boycotts and preferences.
And right now, she’s not boycotting Israel, but she does not care so much about her either. The world realized that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not going anywhere, and moved on. He has bigger troubles on his mind: Ukraine, the climate crisis, the corona and the politics of identities, which also does not help the film overseas.
Kolirin is a Jewish and white man, but almost all the characters in “Wihi Boker” are Palestinian and speak Arabic. Global film culture is currently looking for creators who tell their story, and finds it difficult to get excited when there is such a correlation between narrator and narrator.
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And what about us? As usual in our districts, the distribution of the film comes after a sequence of scandals. Initially, the Palestinian team boycotted the Cannes premiere. The reason: the Israeli Film Fund funded it, and the funding laws required that it be shown as an “Israeli film” and so on. They then also set foot from the Ophir Awards ceremony, where “Let There Be Morning” was revealed as the grand winner. Prominent in her absence was Jonah Suleiman, who was the cast of the film and also starred in it, and won the lead actress award.
Kolirin read a letter in her name, in which she protested against the “ethnic cleansing” on which the local culture is built. Of course all this caused a storm, but it seems to me that it could be said that it was relatively limited to similar storms with us in past years. Here, too, they grew tired of the conflict and the cultural scandals involved.
It is not clear to me who the audience of the film is, but this is what awaits those who watch it: Inspired by the source of Kashua, he follows the residents of a Palestinian village, which is under an arbitrary siege by the IDF. This situation creates a bubbling pressure cooker, Only between Jews and Arabs but also within Palestinian society itself. In addition, and no less importantly, there are also more personal conflicts, for example, between the couple at the center of the plot, played by Suleiman and Alex Bakri, arguably the most attractive cast recently seen in local cinema.
In the design of the two characters, “Let there be morning” undermines all the stereotypes and clichés of Israeli society and culture. Instead of orientalism, they dance to the tunes of the American rock band The Dead Weather. The protagonist, unlike previous Arab men we have seen in local films, turns out to be a bourgeois who works in high-tech, has an affair with a Jewish woman, lives in Jerusalem and is trapped in his hometown only because of the IDF curfew.
“And there will be morning” enjoys having fun with clichés and breaking them. It has a rich gallery of human figures, and pigeons are constantly moving around at their feet. The expectation is that they will fly at some point with an olive leaf in their mouth as a symbol of peace, but Kolirin chooses more original and entertaining directions.
As in Kolirin’s way, in his work and life, there are quite a few humorous touches in the film, but there is also a sharp and firm political side. The nice thing is that each of the parties, the purists on their way, will be able to find something to complain about. One Yellin camp, which is “Be a Morning,” deals with the occupation, describes the Israeli authorities as oppressing the Palestinians and presents an IDF war crime.
Collierin snatched on the head from both directions also in the brilliant “Beyond the Mountains and Hills”, and here too he insists on being balanced. The film is equally critical of both sides, and alongside the criticism of the IDF, it also has an internal critique of Palestinian society, for all the hypocrisy, corruption, degeneration and especially the violence it has.
And yet, even in the most balanced film there is always a victim. In many Israeli works that were for some reason defined as “subversive,” such as “Foxtrot” and “Zero Hour,” the Jew was portrayed as a martyr, the ultimate victim. In “And Be Morning” this is not the case, and even in this it is unique.
It is impossible not to talk about politics in the context of “Let There Be Morning”, but it is also impossible not to talk about cinema – and here too a unique “Let There Be Morning”. Also artistically, we have never seen such a film in Israel. More than previous local films, it is reminiscent of quality films made in Turkey, and especially those by Nuri Bilga Jaylen, one of the most esteemed creators in the festival segment today.
Like him, he cooks slowly over low heat and uses wide brush strokes and quite a few silences. Although there are also quite a few songs and dances here, it is an artistic cinema for everything, one that is unlikely to be turned into a Broadway musical.
In addition to a comparison to Turkish art cinema, it is tempting to compare the film to Kenneth Branagh’s Northern Irish “Belfast,” which also describes how religious and territorial conflict affects the lives of families. In both films there are parents trapped in narrow streets and in bitter conflicts, trying to save their children from them.
In both we also have an image of a father holding a football, and in the same situation. “Let there be morning” is indeed deeply rooted in the Israeli-Palestinian reality and has innumerable specific details, but it also has a universal dimension, and to the same extent could have occurred in Northern Ireland. Just as “Belfast,” as we wrote here at the time, could have taken place in the Middle East. And of this it is said: The trouble of many is the comfort of fools.
One difference is that “Belfast” is in black and white, and “And Be Morning” makes the best use of colors. Kolirin has collaborated with photographer Shai Goldman, Nadav Lapid’s regular partner in recent years, a craftsman who is a poet and one of the most underrated cultural figures in Israeli culture in recent years.
We will also mention the editing by Arik Lahav Leibowitz and Haim Tabakman, the original music by Habib Shehadeh Hanna, who also worked with Kolirin on “The Orchestra’s Visit”, and of course the acting performances: we have already mentioned Bakri and Suleiman, and you can also enjoy Ihab Elias Salami’s performances , Slim Dow and others.
Because the result burns slowly, its viewing is not easy and its effect is not immediate, but it accumulates and is significant. On other days, such a work would have become the talk of the day in the world of festivals and here too, but the conditions are not right for that at the moment. Was “Let There Be Morning” late or was it too early? We will only know this in the future.
Avner Shavit is the film critic of Walla!