Nostalgia Sunday – July 4th 1976

July 5, 2009 - 9:06 PM by Rachel Neiman · 4 Comments
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, War 

The Bicentennial Celebration of 1976 was a very big event and the entire USA was decked out in red, white and blue. We — my father sisters and I — instead got a plane on July 3rd and flew to Israel. It had been a rough year, with my mother’s death in early November, and somehow coming to Israel to be with family and friends was a comfort. Israel being Israel, we arrived to the latest national crisis: the hostage situation in Entebbe.

The next morning, we were awakened to the news that the hostages had been rescued. Israel’s reaction was euphoric — not since 1967 had there been so stunning a win! — although everyone knew that the victory was bittersweet. Four hostages and IDF Commander Yonatan Netanyahu were killed. Nonetheless, the raid was a tour de force of Israeli think-on-your-feet strategy and bravado in the face of the cartoonishly evil dictator Idi Amin Dada.

That same morning, I went down to Jerusalem’s Ben-Yehuda Street with my dad and he bought this T-shirt for me.
idi_amin_t-shirt
The text balloon says, “Kol ha-kavod le-Zahal” or “All respect due to the IDF” — probably the last thing Amin was thinking of saying at that moment. The shirt was doubly humorous for having made new use of the most hackneyed of Israeli cliches about the military. As far as we were concerned, it was “Kol ha-Kavod to Lord Kitsch” which had somehow managed to speedily produce the T-shirts in a matter of hours.

And then, the next day, Miss Israel, Rina (Messinger) Mor, was crowned Miss Universe!

rina-mor1

It was a double-coup for the Jewish State and its people were ecstatic. We were riding a wave of popularity on the international scene, it was felt. This was only reinforced by Israel’s Eurovision wins in 1977 and 1978. Surely we were becoming a nation like all others, with beauty queens and pop stars, a nation able to vanquish its enemies to the approval of the international community and, like anybody else, glorify those victories in made-for-TV movies. It seemed possible. But those were more innocent times.

entebbe_movies

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Nostalgia Sunday – Dizengoff 99

March 15, 2009 - 3:26 PM by Rachel Neiman · 2 Comments
Filed under: General, Israeliness, Movies, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture 

dizengoff99Thirty years ago, apparently, the film Dizengoff 99 hit Israeli movie theaters and apparently I was there. I distinctly remember going to see the movie but, beyond that, have very little recollection about what it was actually about. You would think this might indicate a forgettable film. But no. In fact, Dizengoff 99 has just been released on DVD, with additional material and interviews about what is being touted as an Israeli cult flick.

Hmmm… I do remember there was a menage a trois with Gali Atari, Anat Atzmon and my beloved Gidi Gov… and so does everyone else, I guess, because that’s what comes up when you Google it and seems to be what this alleged cult is all about. Well, you didn’t get many scenes like that in Israeli movies, back in those days, so it must have made an impression.

What is impressive is the cast and crew. Aside from Gov, who was making a transition from singer to singer-actor, and Atari, who subsequently made an about-face back to the safety of the recording studio, there is Atzmon, a legendary beauty and every Israeli man’s fantasy as the dream girl in Lemon Popsicle (a true Israeli cult film). Also worth noting: this was one of the first films produced by Arnon Milchan.

The director, Avi Nesher, has made some truly great Israeli films such as The Secrets, Turn Left at the End of the World, and another true Israeli cult film – Ha-Lahaka, (also: Sing Your Heart Out), about the life and times of an IDF entertainment troupe. Dizengoff 99 may not be his finest work, but it does serve to document Tel Aviv nightlife in the late 70s and the soundtrack features the era’s great: Yehudit Ravitz, Zvika Pick, Arik Sinai, David Broza, Danny Litani, Dori Ben-Zeev, Yitzhak Klepter, Ricki Gal, Yigal Bashan and of course, Gali Atari, fresh from her 1979 Eurovision “Hallelujah” win.

By the way, there really is a Dizengoff 99 — today it houses the Bauhaus Center.

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Hardly a Lemon

December 5, 2008 - 10:50 AM by Harry · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Life, Movies, Pop Culture, coexistence 

For those of us who live in the Modiin area, the reality of being surroun

ded by Arab villages is a part of daily life. The 443 Highway, which connects greater metro Tel Aviv with greater metro Jerusalem Modiin sitting ab

out halfway in between snakes alongside the Green Line for its main

stretches. I used to live in Jerusalem, though, where the Muslim call to prayer could be heard many times daily. The Sharon region, which stretches north and slightly east of Tel Aviv, is itself adjacent to Samaria, where the bulk of the non-Gazan, non-Galilean Palestinian population is located.

So for much of Israel, the reality of living in a Jewish homeland thats situated in a Muslim-centric region extends well beyond our news headlines, our military-security efforts as a collective and the diplomacy moves of our politicians. The children of Isaac and the children of Ishmael are neighbors here.

Fictional community Tzur Hasharon, apparently located in the Sharon region, is the setting of Eran Riklis recent movie, Lemon Tree (trailer streams here), which serves to juxtapose the public-collective Jewish-Muslim relations with the personal-neighborly ones. Of course, its the latter that comes off as more connected to reality in the movie not such a stretch when the Israeli defense ministers wife forges an unlikely friendship with a Muslim neighbor, whose lemon grove ends up in the middle of an international media and diplomacy firestorm.

Riklis likewise nuanced 2004 movie The Syrian Bride garnered several international awards following its overseas cinematic distribution run. And now Lemon Tree has joined the stable of local films enjoying critical, box office and statuette-based success outside of Israel.

We at Israelity have our fingers crossed for at least one win for the movie at the European Film Academys European Film Awards tomorrow night in Copenhagen. Held somewhere different each year (except every other year, when it always takes place in Berlin), the 2008 European Film Awards have nominated Lemon Tree in two categories: Hiam Abbass for Best Actress, and Suha Arraf and Eran Riklis for Best Screenplay. The latter category impressively includes another Israeli nominee, the beloved animated documentary Waltz with Bashir.

While our hopes are high, The Jerusalem Posts Hannah Brown points out that The Bands Visit won Israeli actor Sasson Gabbai a 2007 Best Actor award, which might make more Israeli prizes less likely. We shall see very soon.

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