Der letzte Tag von Jitzchak Rabin

Amos Gitai has made some fine films ("Kippur" and "Kadosh" in particular) but this is a major disappointment.

We get archive footage of Rabin's assassination, and various re- enactments, but the majority of the excessive running time focuses on the three-man committee appointed to investigate the security lapses which facilitated the killing. Each of the many witnesses is warned of the consequences of being untruthful, and there were so many witnesses I was ready to scream if I heard that warning again.These interminable scenes sent me to sleep for some time, and although I attended a screening where everyone was Jewish, a good many left before the end. I'd have done the same if I hadn't been in the middle of a row and reluctant to disturb others. I really should have been more selfish!

Gitai shows the toxic forces screaming their hatred of Rabin for seeking peace by reaching an accord with Arafat and the PLO. The mob at a Likud rally calling for Rabin to be killed, with Netanyahu on the balcony doing nothing to discourage them. The placards showing Rabin, who'd fought for Israel in the Haganah and then IDF, in Nazi uniform. The Orthodox rabbis invoking din rodef to say killing him was okay because he'd betrayed and endangered the Jewish people (one even said "Kill all Arabs.") The settlers, eager to seize yet more land from the Palestinians. To be fair, Hamas had rejected the Accord and stepped up its attacks: unless this was mentioned while I slept, its omission was a mistake.

There was a little light relief, from the witness who wouldn't sit down, and particularly the Orthodox woman psychiatrist, who'd never met Rabin but because she disagreed with his politics diagnosed him as schizophrenic. Overall though, I'd have been better off just reading a detailed account of this tragedy.