Review of Disengagement (2007) by Walter M — 03 Apr 2012

So what do you do with a filmmaker whose technical skills far outweigh any ability to tell a story or get a valid point across?

Case in point, Amos Gitai. I was wowed by his film "Kadosh" but since then it has been a series of frustrations. His film "Disengagement" gets off to a promising start, however, with an encounter between a Palestinian woman(Hiam Abbass) and Uli(Liron Levo), who is on the way to Avignon for his father's funeral, on a train, captured expertly in a single shot. To ease him off the mortal coil, Uli's half sister Ana(Juliette Binoche) arranges to have a singer(Barbara Hendricks) serenade him in a beautiful and touching scene. And then about halfway through, when Jeanne Moreau puts in an appearance, it suddenly becomes apparent that the story has not even begun.

That story is centered around the Gaza Disengagement wherein the Israeli army rightfully told the Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip to get lost. Somehow, both Uli, an Israeli soldier, and Ana end up getting involved. Up until then, she has been acting like either a 12-year old or Marilyn Monroe(sorry, I've been watching "Smash" lately), which is especially strange coming from Juliette Binoche, but now suddenly acts with a renewed sense of purpose. On a political level, Gitai, who loves his tracking shots, provides little in the way of insight, especially on the subject of identity, just a lot of people shouting at each other, with just as much attention given to the plight of the family car.