Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed, Produced & Written by: Nir Bergman. Director of Photography: Valentin Belonogov. Edited by: Einat Glaser Zahrhin. Music by: Avi Belleli. Released by: Sony Pictures Classics. Country of Origin: Israel. 86 min. Rated: R. With: Orli Zilberschatz-Banai, Maya Maron & Nitai Gvirtz.
At the center of Broken Wings is "Animated Movies," a song that Maya
(Maron) sings about her father. The moody, indie-rock ode surfaces a few
times and is the only representation of the missing dad, who has recently and
suddenly passed away, for
which Maya bears responsibility. The oldest of four children, Maya, 17, tries
to
keep her family together, but sees her mother and her siblings
struggle alone with the loss of their father. Maya pleads her mom, Dafna
(Zilberschatz-Banai), to be present for them, but Dafna works the night shift
as a midwife. Returning from work exhausted, she is just as absent when
she is home as when she's gone. Thus, each child is cast off on their own
to try to cope with the loss.
These characters are richly textured and so believable that they seem to have
existed long before the film begins and ends. Bits of their lives are
revealed throughout the course of the film, which effectively add complexity
to the characters. Second oldest in the family is troubled Yair (Gvirtz), a
nihilist who has effectively dropped out of high school. His dark
view on the world is full of angst but holds true to a teenager's tendency
toward extremes. The two younger children in the family
are also realistically depicted. The youngest boy, 11, won't speak to his mother,
and the youngest
daughter, six, wants nothing more than to be with Dafna. On top of an already
underlying
tragedy, another bad event hits the family, forcing them
to come together. At one point, Maya asks, tears streaming down her cheeks,
"It could be worse, right?" Yair responds that, indeed, it could
be
worse, and in this recognition, things begin to get better.
Caitlin Shamberg, former programming associate for the Mill Valley Film Festival
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