Red-125
Zero Motivation (2014) is an Israeli film, written and directed by Talya Lavie. The movie takes place at a remote army post of the Israeli Defense Force. All of the main actors portray female conscripts, none of whom wants to be in the army, especially in the middle of the desert.Dana Ivgy plays Zohar and Nelly Tagar plays Daffi, best friends until they're not. All of the women are unmotivated and act like prisoners rather than soldiers. (Well, in a sense they are prisoners.) However, instead of banding together to fight against the repressive officers, they play computer games and fight with each other.Not only was this film demeaning to women, but it wasn't funny. (Well, if you consider a woman committing suicide early in the film funny, then I guess it's funny.)This film won multiple awards at the Israeli Film Academy Awards, and it carries a very high IMDb rating of 7.7. OK--everyone else liked it. I thought it was insulting and demeaning to women, and I really disliked it.We saw this movie in the Dryden Theatre, as part of the fantastic Rochester International Film Festival. It will work on the small screen as well as it worked on the large screen.
bbickley13-921-58664
So when I saw the movie's summary about a group of women being pencil pushers in the Israeli army, I was expecting something far different. My perception (which I got from movies) of the Israeli army is that every one who comes out of it seems to be real bad ass. This movie contradicts that, completely. The movie tells three different stories about different types of women in the army. A story of a woman who wants to be in command, a woman looking for a nice job in a nice place, and a woman who can't wait for her service to end. What I enjoyed most was how the filmmakers were able to construct characters who you can connect with. I can't put my finger on how it was done but I came out of this caring for the out come of all of them. Maybe it was a combination of the writing and the acting, or how the movie was edited to focus on the main characters and tell their stories. Whatever it was, it truly worked. Not knowing much about military service in Israel, I will assume the picture is displaying the emotion of what it's like to do it. From trying to play the male dominated game to just trying to get by. Overall, I was very impressed by it.
The Fresh Prince
i will admit, i'm an Israeli guy and i think that the film industry in my country still has a lot to improve when it comes to quality, to meet with other countries standards. in the last 5-6 years, there has been a huge improvement in film editing. Israeli films used to be about drama and comedy, there almost hasn't been any thrillers or sci-fic but now we get the chance to enjoy new styles like "vals with bashir" which is an academy award winning animated Israeli film, or "bufor" - military thriller ,"big bad wolves" - an amazing high quality horror-drama, all are big budget films.the lately "zero motivation" ('efes be'yahasey enosh' - zero in social skills) is the most entertaining Israeli film i've seen so far. it's about 3-4 IDF female soldiers who work in office of their military base. doing paper work and complains about anything and everything. the film is hilarious from beginning to end. not even one minute that is boring. the acting is superb and the dialog is just natural. the film is a huge box office hit in Israel, on the top of the charts for more than 2 months already, and receiving a 90% positive reviews from critics and regular watchers. to make a long story short, if you are looking for 2 hours of sweet drive, this is the one for you. 10 out of 10.
jonathan-lowenstein
This is a lovely coming-of-age movie about very young women coping with their impossibly dull military service in the Israeli army. The film is very funny with a lot of attention to detail (the officers routinely meet in front of a map marked "Palestine"). The sound track is simple but beautifully put into the context of the movie. The camera work is very low key, and very reminiscent of early Israeli movies in its style. Its not a political movie but it does give a genuine insight into how many young Israeli women experience their military service. As a footnote I will say that I saw it in Tel Aviv, the theatre was packed and as the movie started there was a siren and the whole audience had to shuffle into the exit tunnels. After a few minutes (and having heard the explosion of a missile being intercepted nearby), we went back to our seats and the movie restarted.
AD
