39 POUNDS OF LOVE
Directed by: Dani Menkin.
Produced by: Daniel J. Chalfren & Dani Menkin.
Written by: Ilan Heitner & Dani Menkin.
Director of Photography: Yoav Kleinman.
Edited by: Geof Bartz, Sam Bauer, Geoffrey O'Brien & Paul Petschek.
Music by: Chris Gubisch.
Released by: HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films.
Language: English & Hebrew with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: USA. 74 min. Not Rated.

This documentary’s very first image is extremely powerful: Ami Ankilewitz in his wheelchair on the way to his birthday party with his family. A quantity like 39 pounds acquires new meaning when it is seen in a 34-year-old man whose limbs are not merely thin, they are literally skin and bones, thinner than a child's. Ami has a rare and often fatal form of muscular dystrophy. Amazingly, he is a 3D animator, with the use of only one finger on his left hand.

The film offers many other indelible images; for example, Ami, small and vulnerable, with his young caregiver Christina as she washes him, shaves him, and then lifts him up like a baby, or when they go to the park. The comparison between Ami in his wheelchair and the small children in their baby carriages, full of movement, is painful; yet the stares and their expressions of confusion and fear - two women hurriedly get up and leave the bench as he approaches - are even more painful.

The film mainly chronicles Ami’s road trip to the U.S. from Israel. His goal is to track down the doctor who diagnosed him when he was one and predicted he wouldn't live past age six. Throughout, an animated feature created by Ami is shown being produced piece by piece, impressive when one thinks he did it only with a finger and a computer. Besides his grace and strength, the film shows other sides to him. At one point, everybody is happy drinking, singing and dancing to “La Cucaracha,” but Ami is shown in close-up cussing and grumbling, "I hate this song."

Sometimes the music is manipulative and unnecessary for such a compelling subject. This is especially the case towards the end, making the main goal of the trip anticlimactic instead of poignant. Yet the film captures magnificently the gigantic difficulties it must have taken to plan for it, and the immense love of Ami’s family and his best friend. Roxana R. Ramirez
November 12, 2005