Jewish film blog

German comedy triumphs

This in from Caroline Westbrook:

German Jewish comedy Alles Auf Zucker has won six prizes at this year's Lola Awards – the German equivalent of the Oscars. Among the prizes it took home were Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor.

German Jewish comedy Alles Auf Zucker (Go For Zucker) has won six prizes at this year's Lola Awards – Germany's answer to the Oscars.

It took the prize for Best Film at the ceremony in Berlin last week, as well as winning Best Director and Best Actor. It also picked up honours for screenwriting, costume design and music.

Alles Auf Zucker, directed by Swiss filmmaker Dani Levy, is the first Jewish-themed comedy to be produced in Germany since World War II. It focuses on two brothers who are raised on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall – one, Samuel has an Orthodox Jewish upbringing, while Jacob, the other does not. When their mother dies they discover they will only
receive her inheritance if they are reconciled – which means Jacob has to get back in touch with his Jewish roots.

The film has been praised by German critics for taking an everyday look at Jewish life in a country where most Jewish themed films focus on the Holocaust.

"I think this film was a sort of 'liberation' for a lot of people," said Levy. "People tell me how relieved they are after seeing the movie about Jews that they are free to laugh about. I'm happy audiences enjoy it."

It has been a huge hit at the German box office, although no UK release date has been confirmed yet.

Walk on Water review

This review courtesy of SomethingJewish.

SJ's Caroline Westbrook reviews Walk On Water, the most successful Israeli movie of all time in the US which has just been released in the UK. The film centres on Eyal, a Mossad hitman whose has to track down and kill an ageing Nazi war criminal.

The latest film from American-Israeli director Eytan Fox, Walk On Water (15) has already been a hit with audiences across the world, becoming the most successful Israeli movie of all time in the US and winning the Audience Award at the Washington Jewish Film Festival.

Now UK audiences have their own chance to see what the fuss is about – and those who do have the chance to check out this low-budget thriller won't be disappointed.

The film centres on Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi) a Mossad hitman whose latest task is to track down and kill an ageing Nazi war criminal who is in hiding. He attempts to trace his would-be victim by befriending his grandson Axel (Knut Berger), posing as a tour guide while he visits his sister in Israel. However, Eyal suffers a crisis of conscience after the pair become unexpectedly close – and when he travels to Berlin to complete the job (believing that the old man will resurface at his son's birthday party) he is unsure whether he can go through with it.

What follows is a tense and surprisingly touching thriller as the seemingly cold killer is forced to wrestle with personal tragedy (namely, his wife's suicide) and his own conscience. It's helped by an intelligent script (written by Gal Uchovsky) and great performances from the male leads – and while the underlying theme of Israel's attitude towards Germany and its past is ever-present, it's never allowed to dominate the action. If anything, the German characters find their past harder to come to terms with than the Israeli ones do – the central character confronts his own stereotypes and discovers that modern Germany is a very different place from the Germany of World War II.

Ultimately though, this works best as a study of friendship and as a tense thriller – one which entertains even as it makes you think. The fact that it's mainly in English (with some Israeli and German dialogue, subtitled in English), helps too. Well worth seeing.