This modest but appealing Israeli feature was a big hit in its native country, and not without good reason: it's a poignant elegy for lost innocence in a nation that forces its children to come of age too quickly. The opening narration clearly spells out the message, introducing a group of friends during their last few weeks together between high school graduation and military service. Their ranks include: an aspiring filmmaker; an equally hopeful songwriter; a left-wing conscientious objector; a young newlywed couple; and a likable, curly-headed klutz, the first to be drafted and the first, naturally, to be killed (but not in battle: a nice irony).
The film captures all the exuberance and awkward idealism of youth with hardly a stereotype in sight, but don't think of it as Tel Aviv Graffiti. Underneath all the familiar coming of age conflicts the story also dramatizes the effects of an unending war on a young generation compelled by duty and circumstance to sacrifice more than just their lives.
The film captures all the exuberance and awkward idealism of youth with hardly a stereotype in sight, but don't think of it as Tel Aviv Graffiti. Underneath all the familiar coming of age conflicts the story also dramatizes the effects of an unending war on a young generation compelled by duty and circumstance to sacrifice more than just their lives.