Time of Favor

Starring:Aki Avni, Tinkerbell, Idan Alterman, Assi Dayan, Abraham Celektar, Amnon Volf, Shimon Mimran, Uri Klauzner, Samuel Calderon
Director: Joseph Cedar
Studio: Kino Video
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

worth the watch
As bleak as the landscape around this Israeli settlement
Not bad
And the 12 Tribes of Israel Continue: A Film that Informs
Thought provoking and entertaining

Time of Favor
Starring: Aki Avni , Tinkerbell , Assi Dayan , Idan Alterman , and Abraham Celektar
Director: Joseph Cedar
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000694XO
Release Date: 2002-09-10

Customer Reviews:

worth the watch.......2007-01-14

I liked this movie. Well done but I was at first a little put off by the anti-Israeli comments and thoughts. (I hate this land or something similar spewed out by the love interest.) I do understand that many Jews are really anti-Israel. It is a mess. With all the arab killing of Jews you have to wonder why the subject was radical Jews. I know it is a valid subject, it just seems a way to slam Israel politically. Political agenda maybe??
Worth the watch for some interesting insights.
barb

As bleak as the landscape around this Israeli settlement.......2005-08-05

This 2000 Israeli film is as fresh as today's headlines. Set in a settlement in Israel it's about a radical rabbi and his ardent followers, two best friends who compete for the rabbi's daughter, and the ongoing conflicts of orthodoxy and secularism in Israel.

The film is as bleak as the landscape around the settlement. And the rabbi's radicalism is the one thing that keeps the young men bound together. One of them is in the army and creates a religious unit much to the concern of his superiors who distrust the radicalism, even though the soldiers perform well. Another young man is the scholar and the rabbi wants him to marry his daughter. Alas, though, she prefers the soldier. Trouble follows. She leaves the settlement and goes to the city where she finds an apartment with some other religious young women.

Her rejection of her religious suitor, however, pushes him to plan to commit a radical act and he involves the soldier as well as another innocent friend in the plan. How this all plays out is scary, as we are all aware of the potential violence of terrorist attacks. This film brings this all out as well as some complex psychological factors.

The problem was that the story moved a little two slowly for my taste. Also, as it was a foreign film, I know that it lost a lot in translation. It seemed as if some parts were missing and the narrative seemed to jump round awkwardly. So, in spite of its message and the tension raised regarding what would happen next, I found myself looking at the clock and feeling bored. However, the film had an interesting theme and the acting was excellent. It also showed me the world through a unique point of view.

Not bad.......2005-07-06

Some cons first. The movie is getting old. The characters are pretty sketchy. If you are not familiar with Jewish culture and Israel, it's not that straightforward to figure out what is going on.

But it's interesting to watch. It is one of a few opportunities to see some of the challenges Israel people face. Music is nice. The story feels real, as well as the emotions of the characters.

Basically this film has some love story but the documentary/politics component is also there.

And the 12 Tribes of Israel Continue: A Film that Informs.......2005-04-13

TIME OF FAVOR is one of those unique films that not only entertains with a fine story but also serves as a fine history lesson. At least for those of us who have never understood all of the manifestations and etiologies of the continuing fighting in Israel and the West Bank and Palestine TIME OF FAVOR turns many of the explanations into a tightly woven, tense story that results in revealing at least some of the factions that perplex.

Briefly stated, the story is about a religious company of military men under the influence of a Rabbi who exalts the concepts of the 'last day' and the glory of participating in such a holy war to return the temples of Jerusalem to the Israelis. Within this same settlement is a military company more secularly oriented and suspicious of the 'zealots'. A plot to destroy the Dome of the Rock (a Muslim 'degradation' to the holy place of the Jews) is followed by the secular company in the manner of a pursuit of the religious company.

To ground all of this complex politico-religious detail the director and writer have introduced fully three-dimensional characters in a love triangle: the zealot Rabbi's daughter Michal is supposed to be attracted to her father's top scholar Pini whose best friend Menachem is in reality the man to whom Michal is attracted. It is a time honored test of friendship, loyalty, and the incongruities of love that drive the story to the flashing finish.

The acting is excellent, the camera work exceedingly atmospheric, and the pacing of the film is brisk - at times so brisk that it is difficult to keep up with the complexities of the plot. But in all the major contribution of TIME OF FAVOR is one of educational value. Finally someone is giving the masses some insight into the myriad problems that conflict Israel. Grady Harp, April 05

Thought provoking and entertaining.......2005-02-02

This is the first Israeli movie that I saw and I wish that more would be released on a wide scale in the US. I am not even sure that this was available to audiences in the US, as I saw it in London, and when it returned to the US, many had not heard of it. The cast comprised superb actors, the script was phenomenal, and the cinematography was brilliant (an extra character of its own).

"Time of Favor" explores the issue of moral responsibility. In this movie, it is depicted as a topic vital to natioanl security interests, as interred by the members of the military, but the issue is relevant to all who interact with society. An Israeli friend of mine once said that Isareal is a sate of many different nations and the people all are forced to become one state while serving in the army. This happens to a similar (but less dramatic degree when conscription is not required) extent in all armies.

The movie follows the creation of a regiment comprised soley of people from similar religious interpretations, which would theorectically mean that this regiment is representative of only one nation in Israel; those that join that particular regiment are those who attend services at a Rabbi's synagoue who often stresses the importance of pursuing manifest destiny as religious obligation. Matters take a tragic turn when a member of the regiment conceives of a plan to actively pursue the policy.

Too often Israel is perceived as a monolithic society. Cedar's film reveals the complexity that constitutes the country. There are deep divisions and suspicions between those who consider themselves devoutly religious and those who consider themselves secular. The two sides often look down at one another and there are difficutlties in them hearing each other in the formation if Israeli policy that is suppsoe to protect the state as a whole. Even within the seemingly coherent religious communities, there are different interpretations of which way to proceed, which is not always realized unless memebrs take matters into their own hand.

When the authorities question the people they believe responsible, the Rabbi is investigated. He believes he is innocent, arguing that he never should have been taken literally. Which raises the important question of who is morally responsibile when causualites are inflicted in the name of relgiion or politics? How much credit is to be assumed by the individual who pursues these beliefs with little or no explicit guidance? How much blame should be ascribed to societal institutions which teach rhetoric about the importance of empire and obligations people should assume for insuring security of a way of life?

This film provides fodder for a timely discussion considering the current trials of Americans who are being investigated for torturing Iraqi. The accused claim that they were following orders; the higher ups say no such specific orders were given. So many Americans endorse policies in Israel which they believe will hasten the second coming, according to their religous leaders and with little regard for the impact that the policies will have on the welfare of Israeli citizens; preaching about the need to rebuild the Temple - even though doing so would entail destroying a relgious landmark for Muslims and exacerbating conflict in the region.

On a less original level, the film also examines the coneseqences on friendship that a love triangle imposes, when two best firends fall in love with the same woman, one of whom her traditional father (the Rabbi) wants her to marry, but unfortunately for her, the Rabbi's favorite is not the one that she loves. It is questionable as to how much of the plan was constructed purely to pursue a perceived religious obligation, as opposed to contributing to the down fall of man who became the object of affection of a woman that the plan's architect wanted to marry. The motivation of what contributes people to commit desperate acts that can be defniend as "terrorist plots," is another revelvant theme in modern times. How much are actions motivated by belief in relgion? How much is the pursuit of such actions motivated by a sense of hopelessness in the future or revenge?

This is a movie that should be bought because it is the type that can be watched again and again, and each viewing brings greater depth and raises new questions - the hallmark of a truly great film

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