New Israeli film ‘Kissufim’ brings the reality of war to life – Israeli Culture
The film Kissufim, a Hebrew-language drama that arrived across Israel on Thursday, begins with the arrival of a new group of young people in a kibbutz in southern Israel to do their military service.
Their idealism is balanced by their desire to have fun, and many love stories begin and end as they work shifts in the fields between trips to the beach in Gaza.
Exactly. In Gaza. The reason for this is that the film, Keren Nechmad’s debut, was shot more than a year before the outbreak of the current war, and is set in 1977, at a time when Israel was still occupying the Gaza Strip.
The film illustrates this time of difficult coexistence. The young volunteers wish that everything would be easy and happy, but the threat of terrorism is ever-present.
Arik Einstein sang about it in “Drive slowen” with the line: “And I think we’re getting close to Gaza, and they better not throw a grenade,” just a few years before the film is set.
The tension forms the backdrop for the story of a summer that changes everyone in the group.
“Kissufim,” which Nechmad co-wrote with Hadar Arazi and Yonatan Bar Ilan, elegantly weaves the cliches of coming of age with the reality of life in Israel at a time of hope—then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem during the film’s setting, and the characters watch this momentous event on television.
But it is important to Nechmad to talk not only about the historical background of the film, but also about the events of October 7 in the kibbutz, when Hamas terrorists killed 14 people.
At the beginning of the film, she added a caption honoring this tragedy and dedicating it to the victims.
“It was very important to include that because we were filming on the kibbutz and they hosted us and gave us a place to create this story. Some of the people on the kibbutz were extras,” she said.
The past reflects the present
“The story in the film reflects what is happening today; it reflects what it is like to live on the edge of the country, where there is always conflict. The country is still at war – and I have not forgotten it.”
NECHMAD says it is important to remember that in the late 1970s, when Kissufim took place, “Gaza was open, people went to the beach, got their cars repaired there, bought sweets that were not available in Israel at the time, and yet there was tension there.”
She noted that the people living in the kibbutz on October 7 “dealt with the Gazans, took them to hospitals in Israel, tried to make peace with them, and then brought out the worst (of life there).”
She recalled that on the first day the film crew arrived in Kissufim, one of the residents “gave us a safety talk… He talked about what would happen if (a terrorist) came to the kibbutz and what to do if there was an alarm, and I – all of us – just started laughing; we said, ‘They’re just scaring us.’ I never thought anything would happen. But the man who gave us that talk was one of those who died fighting for the kibbutz.”
Nechmad, 30, came up with the idea to make the film when she heard her father’s stories about his volunteer work in Kissufim in 1979. This story seemed more relevant to her after she returned to Israel after studying film in New York with the army.
“I remember thinking the cycle was still going on. My father told me stories from his time in the army, and then I experienced it myself, and then my sisters experienced it, and I see it’s still happening.”
She thought about her father’s stories and her own experiences in the army near the northern border and decided to set a story in Kissufim at the time of the Camp David Accords.
“I thought that no matter where you put a story on the timeline of what’s going on in Israel, there’s always going to be a group of young people trying to live their lives, having love and lust, and the Israeli reality slamming them in the face – because you can’t just be here and have ‘the college experience,'” said the film’s creator. “There’s always going to be war and tension and outside political influences that change the way a young adult thinks.”
Making the reality of war tangible
The film mixes scenes that deal with typical emotional and romantic problems faced by young people with situations that highlight the political and military conflict. It helps that the main roles are played by some of Israel’s most attractive young actors, who draw us in as they talk about their love lives and dreams.
These include Swell Ariel Or, best known from The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, as well as Mili Eshet (Barren), Adam Gabay (Image of Victory), Yehonatan Vilozny (Spell Keepers, Full Speed), Lir Katz (The Malevolent Bride, Tatami), Erez Oved (Your Honor) and Tamir Ginsburg (Tehran).
THE STORY shows how even the characters’ romantic dilemmas are inextricably intertwined with the larger national story. One example is when Michaela (Eshet) decides to have an affair with macho soldier Eldar (Ginsburg), and Udi (Gabay), who is in love with her, feels that she rejects both his pro-peace ideology and him.
Many Israeli films dealing with the military focus on male characters, but Nechmad says, “I wanted to create strong female characters with desires of their own.” Eli, played by Or, is in many ways the focus of the film.
Eli is a charismatic young woman who suffers from her brother’s post-traumatic stress disorder from a previous war. The film is based on a real person. “She is a woman trying to find herself,” said the director.
It was also important to her to show the diversity of experiences in the military and to bring together characters from very different backgrounds.
She interviewed her father’s army buddies as well as soldiers she had served with to develop a storyline that showcased Israel’s diversity.
The actors lived together during filming and Nechmad said it was easy to create the feeling that they were truly a unit.
“They spent time together and really got to know each other,” she said, as she tried to support them through the emotionally wrenching scenes, especially those who had experienced trauma during their own military service.
Promoting the film at film festivals in the United States during the war was complicated, Nechmad said, describing how she and Or flinched at a festival in Orlando when they heard a motorcycle backfire, thinking for a moment it was an alarm.
Although it may be challenging for Israelis today to watch a film about the beauty of life in a border kibbutz, but also the dangers it faces, Nechmad believes the film could help people process their feelings.
“It was a difficult decision to go ahead with the release now,” she said. “It was due to come out shortly after October 7 and I was adamant that this was not the right time. But I think in some ways the story reflects what happened and it can give you a different perspective on the reality of Israel… The characters are trying to find themselves and people can always relate to that.”
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