A Separation (2011)

A Separation (2011) is about a married couple that wants to get a separation because Simin the wife feels that Iran is not a good place to raise a family but the husband Nader will not leave Iran because he wants to stay with his sick father who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Throughout the duration of the film Nader hires a housekeeper named Razieh  to take care of his father, because Simin left. Razieh is pregnant and has a hard time taking care of Nader father because he is a lot of work. One Day Nader comes home and accuses Razieh for stealing money from him. Razieh is denying it and they start to argue. Nader get angry and shoves Razieh. Nader is now called into court because Razieh lost her baby and her husband Hojjat believes that Nader was the cause of the miscarriage.

           This film focuses on several key issues. For example divorce in Israel is frond upon. People of that culture do not believe that a man and a woman should not get divorced, it is morally wrong. The next topic that is stress throughout the film is false accusation. When Nader was brought in for supposedly causing Razieh miscarriage, Razieh forgot to mention that she was hit by a car before Nader pushed her and felt a sharp pain in her stomach the night before. By keeping this from the judge

she is prosecuting an innocent man.  Finally the last issue that was explained throughout the film was child custody. The Simin and Nader were fighting over the custody of there daughter Termeh. They wanted what was best for her to live in a safe environment. In Iran the father has custody over the daughter until a certain age unless the daughter says differently. Throughout the beginning of the film Termeh stays with her father Nader. But as this issue starts to become more of a problem the daughter then is left with the choice of who to live with by the end of the film.

       I felt that this film was very well done. The plot was excellent; the story really hit it home for me.   I learned a lot about the Iran culture through this film. I also felt that the acting was great. The protagonist Nader was very believable and you really felt sympathy for this character. Finally the lighting and the cinematography was beautifully done. I feel this is the reason why it won an Oscar. I would give this film an 8 out of 10 stars.

Walk on Water (2004)

                                    Walk on Water (2004)

            Walk on Water (2004) directed by Eytan Fox follows an Israeli agent named Eyal who main purpose is to find and kill various Nazi war criminals. In the beginning of the film Eyal discovers that his wife has committed suicide because of his job This act interferes with his way of thinking throughout the film. The main mission is giving to him pretty early Eyal is giving a mission to track down and murder  Alfred Himmelman, who is  an ex-Nazi officer, who is being hidden by his family. Pretending to be a tourist guide he gets close to Himmelman grandson Axel and his granddaughter Pia. During there time together the form a close bond and become friends. One night Pia told Axel that their mother and father were hiding Himmelman to keep him safe.

            Throughout this film there were many elements that stood out to me. First was the lighting. The film had a very dark and gritty feel to it. This type of lighting technique is often used to build suspense.  The next element that played a huge role in the film was the camera angles.  Throughout the movie there were a lot of close up and mid shots used to show connection between the actors. Which leads me to my last element, which is very important for a film to be successful, is the acting.   Lior Ashkenazi did a fantastic job playing the protagonist. His acting was very believable and the audience could really relate to this character.

             Conflict is the theme of this movie: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the acceptance of gay men by heterosexual men and young Germans with their country's history. The storyline set in modern-day Turkey, Israel and Germany. What started out, as a very promising film it began to drag out toward the end. For example I was waiting for something exciting to happen but it never did. It leads the audiences in several different directions.

            The use of language throughout the film is very realistic and the English text is direct and simplistic. The characters can be forgiven for their language abilities since English is their second language. I would recommend it to a friend to see because it did have flashes of brilliance. The cinematography was very interesting, and the acting was on par. As I said the only problem I had was the misleading storyline but other then that I found this film to be quite interesting.  I would give this film a 7 out of 10 stars.