Foxtrot

2017 Israel 1hr 54 mins Cert: 15

Director: Samuel Maoz

The mother and father of a soldier who died in combat attempt to cope with his death, but the father’s world quickly spins out of control.

This is a compelling family tragedy played out in three acts, with the loss, waste and grief arranged with such visionary boldness that it dares us to look away. Maoz, winner of the 2009 Venice Golden Lion, creates a counterpoint to the received wisdom and protocol of the Middle Eastern narrative, and says that the world is random and inept and that we are as liable to be killed in in error as by planned intention.

The juxta-positioning of the city-based family with young Israeli soldiers manning a remote northern border post, and the ways to manage grief in these settings, shows how the country’s collective hurt and anger are passed down the line, trapping its citizens in a ghastly holding pattern until they collapse from exhaustion and the sheer futility  of it all.

It is a fierce, urgent, unflinching picture of a world off-balance.