Released first in 2008, 'Brothers' is now one of the prominent entries in the 25th Annual Israeli Film Festival. The title is a bit of a misnomer since the film works more as a courtroom drama than the relationship between two brothers. Nonetheless, the filial relationship is the framing device for the entire story and there's enough of it to hold one's interest throughout.
The story begins with Dan, a secular Jew living on a Kibbutz receiving a letter from his long lost younger brother in America, Aaron, who informs him that he'll be visiting Israel and wants to get together. Dan never told his kids about their uncle and we later learn that the two used to live in Argentina in the early 80s, at the time of the war between Argentina and Great Britain. It seems Dan was a Communist who was wanted by the Argentinian government and had to flee to the United States, abandoning his mother and nine year old brother. Aaron is angry at Dan for abandoning the family (without really knowing the real reasons why he left) and Dan is angry at Aaron for not answering any of the letters he sent him over the years in which he begged for a reconciliation.
When Dan and his wife come to pick Aaron up at the airport, they're shocked to see that he's an ultra-orthodox Jew. Both are mutually suspicious of one another and soon Dan discovers that Aaron has an ulterior motive for coming to Israel. It turns out that in addition to being ultra-orthodox, he's an attorney who studied at Columbia University. Aaron has been hired by supporters of a Rabbi Horowitz, who is appealing a court decision to the Israeli Supreme Court, after being convicted of failing to allow older Yeshiva students to register for Army service.
Aaron is pitted against a very attractive, smart State Attorney who argue their points of view before three Judges in the Supreme Court. The conflict between the religious and the secular is also played out between the two brothers. The way the conflict is illustrated is more didactic than dramatic as it becomes obvious that Director Igaal Niddam is intent on educating outsiders unfamiliar with the clash of ideas between the two groups. In this, he does an admirable job. The secularists argue that the religious are getting a 'free ride': they're simply cowardly in avoiding military service and don't want to work for a living, subsisting on government handouts. The religious, on the other hand, argue that the Jewish state will eventually cease to exist without embracing those who keep the rituals and devote themselves to the glue that keeps society together: Torah study.
What holds 'Brothers' together is the excellent, nuanced performance of Baruch Brener, who is actually a Rabbi in real life. At a Q&A at the Israeli Film Festival, Director Niddam indicated he cast a real-life Rabbi to lend authenticity to the character's arguments, which are ably set forth in the courtroom scenes. Niddam also tries to flesh out Dan's character by depicting his disappointment at being forced out of his job as the last Shepherd at the Kibbutz. Eventually, Dan's wife prods her husband to give up his anger toward Aaron, so they can reconcile. Aaron invites Dan and his wife for a Sabbath dinner but it goes badly, as the brothers can't overcome their mutual animosities. But just before the denouement, there is a reconciliation, suggesting the possibility that there can be a rapprochement between the secular and the religious.
Unfortunately Director Niddam allows his critique of ultra-religious radicalism to go too far. The antagonist here is the Rabbi's son, who betrays his father by adding phantom students to the Yeshiva's roles. Rabbi Horowitz won't take the rap for his son despite Aaron's protestations. The attractive State Prosecutor brings an indictment, only to be set upon by a mob of angry Yeshiva students, who cause her to get her arm caught in a car door. Aaron violates rules of religious modesty and pays a call to the Prosecutor's home to see if she's okay. Later, he sends flowers to her, and there are hints that his devotion to religious ritual is now perhaps wavering.
All of this seems quite plausible, until Niddam has the Rabbi's son dress up with a confederate as Arabs, and stab Aaron to death in a Jerusalem street, as the lawyer is now seen as betraying the ultra-religious cause. It's one thing to have an ultra-religious Jew commit fraud by padding the books at the Yeshiva but to depict him as a murderer, it just didn't seem plausible. No matter how distasteful the radicalism of the ultra-religious right may be, I've never heard of a Yeshiva student murdering a fellow Jew over the issue of embracing the secular cause.
After all, the main tenet of Judaism is "Thou Shalt Not Kill". It is true that Prime Minister Rabin was killed by a fellow Jew who hated him because he was too liberal and secular—but he was not religious. Director Niddam allowed his hatred of ultra-religious radicalism to take a cheap shot at his opponents—he needed a more subtle conclusion to his drama, not something so implausible and melodramatic.
Nonetheless, 'Brothers' does an admirable job in exploring the conflict between the religious and secular in Israeli society today. It's a film of 'ideas' which both Jew and non-Jew can sink their teeth into wholeheartedly!
The story begins with Dan, a secular Jew living on a Kibbutz receiving a letter from his long lost younger brother in America, Aaron, who informs him that he'll be visiting Israel and wants to get together. Dan never told his kids about their uncle and we later learn that the two used to live in Argentina in the early 80s, at the time of the war between Argentina and Great Britain. It seems Dan was a Communist who was wanted by the Argentinian government and had to flee to the United States, abandoning his mother and nine year old brother. Aaron is angry at Dan for abandoning the family (without really knowing the real reasons why he left) and Dan is angry at Aaron for not answering any of the letters he sent him over the years in which he begged for a reconciliation.
When Dan and his wife come to pick Aaron up at the airport, they're shocked to see that he's an ultra-orthodox Jew. Both are mutually suspicious of one another and soon Dan discovers that Aaron has an ulterior motive for coming to Israel. It turns out that in addition to being ultra-orthodox, he's an attorney who studied at Columbia University. Aaron has been hired by supporters of a Rabbi Horowitz, who is appealing a court decision to the Israeli Supreme Court, after being convicted of failing to allow older Yeshiva students to register for Army service.
Aaron is pitted against a very attractive, smart State Attorney who argue their points of view before three Judges in the Supreme Court. The conflict between the religious and the secular is also played out between the two brothers. The way the conflict is illustrated is more didactic than dramatic as it becomes obvious that Director Igaal Niddam is intent on educating outsiders unfamiliar with the clash of ideas between the two groups. In this, he does an admirable job. The secularists argue that the religious are getting a 'free ride': they're simply cowardly in avoiding military service and don't want to work for a living, subsisting on government handouts. The religious, on the other hand, argue that the Jewish state will eventually cease to exist without embracing those who keep the rituals and devote themselves to the glue that keeps society together: Torah study.
What holds 'Brothers' together is the excellent, nuanced performance of Baruch Brener, who is actually a Rabbi in real life. At a Q&A at the Israeli Film Festival, Director Niddam indicated he cast a real-life Rabbi to lend authenticity to the character's arguments, which are ably set forth in the courtroom scenes. Niddam also tries to flesh out Dan's character by depicting his disappointment at being forced out of his job as the last Shepherd at the Kibbutz. Eventually, Dan's wife prods her husband to give up his anger toward Aaron, so they can reconcile. Aaron invites Dan and his wife for a Sabbath dinner but it goes badly, as the brothers can't overcome their mutual animosities. But just before the denouement, there is a reconciliation, suggesting the possibility that there can be a rapprochement between the secular and the religious.
Unfortunately Director Niddam allows his critique of ultra-religious radicalism to go too far. The antagonist here is the Rabbi's son, who betrays his father by adding phantom students to the Yeshiva's roles. Rabbi Horowitz won't take the rap for his son despite Aaron's protestations. The attractive State Prosecutor brings an indictment, only to be set upon by a mob of angry Yeshiva students, who cause her to get her arm caught in a car door. Aaron violates rules of religious modesty and pays a call to the Prosecutor's home to see if she's okay. Later, he sends flowers to her, and there are hints that his devotion to religious ritual is now perhaps wavering.
All of this seems quite plausible, until Niddam has the Rabbi's son dress up with a confederate as Arabs, and stab Aaron to death in a Jerusalem street, as the lawyer is now seen as betraying the ultra-religious cause. It's one thing to have an ultra-religious Jew commit fraud by padding the books at the Yeshiva but to depict him as a murderer, it just didn't seem plausible. No matter how distasteful the radicalism of the ultra-religious right may be, I've never heard of a Yeshiva student murdering a fellow Jew over the issue of embracing the secular cause.
After all, the main tenet of Judaism is "Thou Shalt Not Kill". It is true that Prime Minister Rabin was killed by a fellow Jew who hated him because he was too liberal and secular—but he was not religious. Director Niddam allowed his hatred of ultra-religious radicalism to take a cheap shot at his opponents—he needed a more subtle conclusion to his drama, not something so implausible and melodramatic.
Nonetheless, 'Brothers' does an admirable job in exploring the conflict between the religious and secular in Israeli society today. It's a film of 'ideas' which both Jew and non-Jew can sink their teeth into wholeheartedly!
