Eagles (2012) Reviews

• Disillusioned Israeli vets grow murderous

  maurice_yacowar2013-01-23

  Director Dror Sabo turns two old cranks, veterans of the 1948 war, into self-righteous killers. Ephraim and Moshka have been best friends since those heady days of the war for independence. Their bond survived their rivalry for the mysterious beauty, Tamara, the enchanting concentration camp survivor. Both men claim to have rejected her in order to sustain their solidarity. Now the once wiry idealists have turned into fat cynics. To the new Israel they are either ridiculous or invisible. Unknown to the men, Tamara has moved back to Israel from America. Ephraim finds she has been killed in a car accident in front of their favourite café. The sight stirs up memories of the men's competitive romance and the purity of their old war. The geezers' first murder is of two brash young men -- images of their old selves -- as they cavort with a girlfriend on the beach. As one of the men comes at them with a knife, that could be self-defence. Ephraim then kills the man he says ran over Tamara, though his guilt is uncertain. The ostensible "heroes" then whack a mischievous neighbour and a girl who parked her car cavalierly. At first the men profess to want to recover the purity of their idealized Israel, to remove the present debasement. But their killings increasingly are unjust rather than principled. This turn costs the two grumpy old men our initial sympathy and support. For more see www.yacowar.blogspot.com.