An average movie

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since I always had a weak spot for Natalie Portman, I thought I might as well check her directing debut. Well, even if it was quite ambitious and quite courageous to deliver a movie spoken only in Hebrew, to be honest, the damned thing was not really good, I’m afraid. Indeed, I can imagine that Portman had a personal link with this story but it never grabbed me at all. I mean, the historical background, the start of the Israelian state, was interesting but it didn’t have much impact on the story itself after all. In fact, there was not even a real plot at all and, instead, we followed the life of a family living in Israel back then which wasn't necessarily a bad idea. However, unfortunately, none of these characters was really interesting. And I think that was the biggest mistake made by Portman, to start a directing career with a movie without an actual plot. Indeed, it meant that she was supposed to focus instead on the emotional and psychological turmoil experienced by the characters involved but I’m afraid this challenge was just too big for a first-time director like her. On top of that, it didn’t help that all the characters constantly spoke in riddles which made the whole thing look even more pretentious than it already was. Finally, the story was supposed to be told from the point of view of Amos, the writer of the book this movie was based on, but it was never clear at any moment what the boy might be thinking or feeling. Anyway, to conclude, even if it was quite a misfire, I give it a very few extra points only for its ambition but I hope the next time around Natalie Portman won’t make it so hard for herself and will go for something easier to handle for her and easier to swallow for the viewers.