Atalia: War Widow

(90 mins) Israel on the eve of war. On an agricultural kibbutz, two young men, Ofer and Mati, join a crack unit of the army. In their tightly-knit community, Ofer's girlfriend reaches out to her "adopted" Kibbutz mother, Atalia. Atalia, widowed in a war twenty years earlier, has never recovered from the sense of abandonment and alienation her loss caused her. Defiant, she loves the men of the kibbutz who use her, breeding jealous hatred among their women who perceive her as a threat. Meanwhile, to his disappointment, 18-year old Mati is rejected by their small community for health reasons from serving in the army, just as Atalia is rejected by their small community for her social rebelliousness. In their loneliness, sharing a sense of rejection and abandonment, 40-year old Atalia and Mati find each other. With the war as a tragic background, their passion for each other grows, scandal erupts and tempers flare around them. Yet, their burning love for each other gives them the strength to escape the society which, without pity, excludes them.

In Hebrew with English subtitles.