The movie seems to be a look at the vanishing of first-hand memories of the Holocaust on both the German and the Jewish/Israeli sides. The grandchildren of the Holocaust generation have not been told much, but they do bear scars that they may not know the reason for. Not knowing is not healthy, but the sources of the knowledge are disappearing.
As this picture is painted, Israel is greatly oversimplified. It looks almost as if no Jews ever lived in Israel other than European refugees and their descendants. Few dark-skinned Jews and, by the way, no Arabs- - although the Israeli army is portrayed as a soul-destroying force and presumably there are Arabs somewhere to serve as its victims.
I have no idea how autobiographical the original story is, but the movie involves some mentally handicapped Israelis and in order to make the movie work, these people must, despite their mental handicaps, converse in English, and they must be pretty well disciplined most of the time. No problem leaving them alone while the male and female leads step out for a heart-to-heart conversation; or letting them go into the sea.
The heroine herself is a confused and conflicted character with a very specific back story, but that's a good thing. As Fitzgerald is said to have written, go for the individual and you'll get the type; go for the type and you'll get nothing. Hanna is a good example of the first case and the mentally handicapped Israelis are an example of the other case.
As this picture is painted, Israel is greatly oversimplified. It looks almost as if no Jews ever lived in Israel other than European refugees and their descendants. Few dark-skinned Jews and, by the way, no Arabs- - although the Israeli army is portrayed as a soul-destroying force and presumably there are Arabs somewhere to serve as its victims.
I have no idea how autobiographical the original story is, but the movie involves some mentally handicapped Israelis and in order to make the movie work, these people must, despite their mental handicaps, converse in English, and they must be pretty well disciplined most of the time. No problem leaving them alone while the male and female leads step out for a heart-to-heart conversation; or letting them go into the sea.
The heroine herself is a confused and conflicted character with a very specific back story, but that's a good thing. As Fitzgerald is said to have written, go for the individual and you'll get the type; go for the type and you'll get nothing. Hanna is a good example of the first case and the mentally handicapped Israelis are an example of the other case.