Full Description
Internationally acclaimed writer Amos Oz is a rare voice of compassion arising from the fractious, beautiful landscape of Israel. This gorgeous documentary does justice to Oz’s rich imagination and political clarity as it follows him on a star-studded international book tour that begins and ends in the quiet of his study, amid the stark Negev desert. Made after the publication of his wildly successful memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness, the film is partly an affectionate but ambivalent account of his family’s emotional problem with Europe, and partly a set of musings on the complicated meanings of Zionism and the culture of doubt and argument. We embark on a journey past a vast assembly of ghosts,up to a Jerusalem hilltop where the veteran Peace Now activist walks with Palestinian writer Sari Nusseibeh, and back down to the cafes, bus stops and beaches of Tel Aviv, all the while asking, Is reconciliation possible? This cinematic portrait offers passageway into the dreamy geography of pre-war East European villages, 1940s Palestine/Israel and an early peace demonstration where Oz delivers a profoundly moving, historic speech on the choices facing Israel. The wisdom and insight gleaned throughout amply demonstrate Oz’s singular authority. Deborah Kaufman
