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Thursday, October 31, 2019

HA-SHOTER / POLICEMAN (2011)

Currently on something of a roll after KINDERGARTEN TEACHER/’14 and SYNONYMS/’19, this earlier award-winner from Israeli writer/director Nadav Lapid does him few favors. Shot DOGME style, in an unattractive, washed out digital image that offers collateral damage on subtitle legibility, it doggedly follows an elite team of anti-terrorist alpha-types thru various male bonding rituals (even at a backyard BBQ), tiptoeing thru workplace events when not entirely avoiding them. Instead, team player Yiftach Klein worries about a very pregnant wife when not hitting on a 15 yr-old waitress (horny is as horny does!), or tries to get a sick colleague to sign off for full responsibility on a case of excessive force. Hey, the guy’s got a brain tumor. He’s likely to die before the case reaches court, letting his brother warriors off the hook. Then, two-thirds of the way in, we switch P.O.V. to watch the unfolding drama of a small group of arrogant kid anarchists, radicals planning to take some billionaires hostage at a wedding reception so they can grab media attention and read their People’s Manifesto over the air. (Awfully hard to root for the billionaire class these days, but these spoiled brat revolutionaries make it easy.) This action, naturally, brings our elite anti-terrorist unit back into the picture for a reasonably well-executed take-out operation*, but a distinct lack of sympathy in any direction keeps possible complex feelings muted. Or was the missing empathy intended?

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: Structurally, the film seems much influenced by Kurosawa’s masterly hostage drama HIGH AND LOW/’62. But only structurally.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Slight Spoiler: *On the other hand, how hard can it be to stage a shoot out in the dark?

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