美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Foxtrot,' Grief And Fate Come Together In A Brutal, Beautiful Dance

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

On the Oscars telecast Sunday night, a presenter 1 will read the names of five nominees 2 for the best foreign language film. Missing from that list is one highly acclaimed 3 film, "Foxtrot" from Israel. And critic Bob Mondello says that's a shame.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE 4: There are three acts to "Foxtrot," the first set in a high-rise apartment building in Tel Aviv.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

MONDELLO: An apartment doorbell - Mrs. Feldmann answers the door...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

MONDELLO: ...Sees two soldiers, one of whom says her name.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Gveret Feldmann...

MONDELLO: And without another word spoken, she collapses 5.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

MONDELLO: The second soldier has already moved into position to catch her. They're old hands at this. They sedate 6 her and carry her to a bedroom, then return to the living room where her husband has been standing 7 motionless since the door first opened.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Mar 8 Feldmann...

MONDELLO: Mr. Feldmann, says the soldier, I'm sorry. There's no easy way to say this. Your son, Jonathan, was killed tonight in the line of duty. What follows is efficient, down-to-Earth and excruciating. The details of a military funeral are laid out dispassionately as if by a wedding planner. Images are elegant, faces in close-up, geometric patterns. Emotions are messy, family members told, plans made. Grief is palpable. And then abruptly 9 it's not.

The action shifts in part two to a desert highway - a deserted 10 highway where checkpoint Foxtrot lies midway between nothing and nowhere. The images here border on the surreal - the checkpoint gate rising to let an unaccompanied camel lope through, the young soldiers manning the gate sitting under a beach umbrella. One riffs briefly 11 on the checkpoint's name. The steps in a foxtrot, he says...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Hebrew).

MONDELLO: ...Are simple - forward, forward, to the side, and stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Hebrew).

MONDELLO: Back, back, to the side, and stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, speaking Hebrew).

MONDELLO: And then...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FOXTROT")

MONDELLO: He's hugging his weapon close in movement that has nothing to do with foxtrot, all to do with youth - anarchic, joyous 12, so loose-limbed he barely seems to have bones in his legs. Fifty-seven seconds of breathtaking abandon in a godforsaken spot where all else is tedium 13. Nearby, there's a rusted-out van painted with the beaming face of a girl enjoying an ice cream cone 14, also a shipping 15 container that serves as the soldiers' barracks. That container is sinking, a metaphor 16 for Israel perhaps. Filmmaker Samuel Maoz leaves that for viewers to interpret while also leaving no doubt through sequences of violation 17 and violence where the film stands on the moral hazards of long-term military occupation. The psychological hazards he saves for the film's third section, which returns the action to Tel Aviv and brings the first two parts together with a wrenching 18 snap.

"Foxtrot" is every bit as harsh as it is beautifully shot, an artist's meditation 19 not just on society but on fate. The way the kid describes a foxtrot, remember - the steps always take you back where you started. And that's true for these characters despite that one moment of blissful, youthful anarchy 20, that dance in the desert where the world just seemed to melt away. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF PEREZ PRADO SONG, "QUE RICO EL MAMBO")