Time of Favor
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Movie Reviews of Time of Favor
Movie Review: great foreign movie-action and romance in one
Summary: 5 Stars
i saw this movie last week the audience and I loved it -it combines great acting,love and romance,and action with a great plot located in Israel.Movie Review: NO COMPLAINTS
Summary: 5 Stars
I am happy with my purchase and have no complaints. Would buy again from this seller.Movie Review: Wow, great movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Loved it, so did my wife, who's not Jewish, gripping, really well-acted.Movie Review: Time of Favor Somewhat Favorable
Summary: 4 Stars
Once in awhile when my roommate and I get a little free time we head down to the video rental store to watch a few movies and I rarely expect to find a movie about Israel or the Middle East that doesn't focus on terrorists and silly Hollywood plots about what they think the Middle East is like (Hollywood does a horrible job of depicting both Arabs and Jews). To my surprise, the last time we went I saw a slick movie case with Hebrew on it extolling the virtues of this Israeli-made film that won quite a few awards. On that whim, we rented "Time of Favor" and hoped for the best.The film is the story of a small religious community from the Yesha (a Hebrew abbreviation of the combination of the words Judia and Samaria, the ancient biblical names of the area the popular press likes to call the West Bank) and their decision to form their own unit when compulsorily enlisting in the Israeli army. In Israel, everyone does national service in the army or for a governmental organization (including women, the handicapped, and a few other groups with a few exceptions). Most recruits serve in a unit local to the area the live in and stay together as a unit until old age finally renders no longer fit to serve as soldiers. "Time for Favor" puts forward a hypothetical situation (to my knowledge) of having an entire religious community serves together in one infantry unit. The unit's officer explains that the Druze and Bedouin have their own units in the army, why not the religious Jews?
The movie's plot revolves around a love triangle between the Rabbi's daughter, Michal, the captain of the community's army unit, Menachem, and the Rabbi's most promising student, Pinchas or Pini, also a soldier in the community's army unit. At the same time, there is a political plot by some of the fundamental members of the Yesha community to blow up the Dome of the Rock, the Islamic Temple built upon the ruins of the Jewish Temples from Biblical history. There is also an additional plot extolling the stresses of Michal and her father, Rabbi Meltzer. At one point she explains that she can't forgive her father for bringing her mother out to the Yesha, which had no toilets at the time, while she had cancer and wanted to live in the city, but the Rabbi wouldn't go. He said that if he left, the community would fall part. In addition, there is another plot direction in which Menachem struggles with his conscience as to what to do about Michal whom he loves, Pini, who is his friend and also loves Michal, and the eventual plot to destroy the Muslim Dome of the Rock.
Thankfully in the midst of the serious drama, there is some comic relief. The army unit has a secular Jewish member, Mookie, who can't understand how the religious soldiers can push themselves so hard. He finally breaks down and asks one of the religious Jews how they do it, who explains that they do it "For Something," a Hebrew phrase that explains that they have a reason for living and it all leads back to God. Or to draw it out, they are soldiers so that they can live, they live so that they can study Torah (what Christians call the Old Testament), and they study Torah to serve God. It's an elaborate answer for a secular person who lives in a two-dimensional world. Part of Mookie's comedy comes from his base ways, always eating and drinking even under field conditions.
The acting, overall, was very good. Tinkerbell (Yes, that's her real actress name!) who plays Michal did a haunting job in the role, expressing angst in a way I expect from German or Russian art films. I'm not sure if she is supposed to be a sex symbol because throughout the film she has dark bags around her eyes and looks more sick and tired than healthy and sexily vibrant. I wonder if her appearance was one of the film's more subtle messages. Aki Avni, who plays Menachem, and Idan Alterman, who plays Pini, both played charismatic likable characters. I enjoyed their acting. Rabbi Meltzer, played by Assi Dayan (Is he Moshe Dayan's son?), was also very good and convincing in his role.
Some other reviewers have explained that the film is about suicide bombing, Hellish clerics from the Abrahamic religions, Israeli settlers, or other ideas that don't capture what the film is really about. The film is about the conscience of Israel and the hard choices that get made there every day. It's ethics at its' most poignant, choices with elements of both right and wrong, where no answer is best or obviously correct.
Using the term "settlers" is very misleading when used to refer to communities in the Yesha. Jews are no more settlers in Israel than Native Americans who live off of reservations in the USA are "settlers." The Jews have been in Israel since long before the Romans tried to rename the land Palestine, Islam existed as a religion, or even before the idea of nationalism arose in the Arab countries as expressed through men like Arafat.
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but got the impression that the director, Joseph Cedar, is a secular Israeli Jew and that he really doesn't practice Judaism as a religion. His depiction of the religious Jews in the Yesha wasn't very favorable, which I felt was incorrect for a brave and dedicated people. It certainly appears the the director doesn't have much of a grasp of what Judaism is about. Sure there are nuts in the midst of any group of people, but I felt the film didn't do the Israeli communities in the Yesha justice.
I recommend "Time of Favor," but not highly.
Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan
Movie Review: Complexities of Israelis society exposed, including a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock and much more. Excellent.
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie has a very unique and intriguing plot involving labyrinths of tunnels under Jerusalem, politics of Jewish settlements, complexities of Israeli society, yearning for the Third Temple in Jerusalem, two friends wanting the same girl and more. It is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
It's a story of two friends, religious Jews from a settlement. The first one is Menachem who was sent to the army for training in order to become a commander over a newly conceived religious company. There is a radical rabbi who stands behind the creation of the company made up of his students and followers. The other friend is Pini who is the rabbi's top student at the yeshiva. As a prize for his best student the rabbi plan to give his oldest daughter Michal to Pini for wife. The trouble is that Menachem and Michal have had an eye for each other for quite some time.
Well, things start when Menachem returns to form the company and train the first batch or religious soldiers. Michal seeks opportunities to speak to Menachem and spend some time with him. In the mean time she learn what her father has in mind for her and Pini. Pini is all on cloud seven and when he gets with Menachem and Itamar, the three friends head for underground tunnels in Jerusalem like they used to. They know the tunnels well and know where to go to a pool of water to bathe and how to get to the temple mound to take a peek at the Dome of the Rock.
Not to reveal to much of the plot and spoil the experience for you, let me just close with the fact that the rabbi's preaching to the soldiers in Menachem's company include talks of the Third Temple - the one that should be build in place of the Dome of the Rock. Oh and the folks from MOSSAD are having their own doubts about the rabbi and his idea of a religious company. There are a few holes in the logic of the plot, but the story is so unique that it is easy to overlook. It has a great plot, great story and is definitely worth watching.