Free Zone (2005)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Blistering performances.

When I saw the beginning of the film begins with more than 10 minutes of Natalie crying in a passenger seat, while nothing is happening, I knew this film will be a very boring film, but I kept watching it, and I made a mistake! The film is a 15 minutes film dragged into 90 minute film, when most of the time nothing is happening, it is not that the film is slow, just things don't move, beside the car they are driving. The director did a very good job of annoying me, he just made a joke of the middle east conflict with a shallow, meaning less story. I am a big fan of art movies, and I am not a Hollywood movie fan, but this Free Zone is not an art movie, and even it is not a Hollywood movie. What I don't understand is how can this film win any awards and even be nominated, especially in Cannes Film Festival. Was the actors so bad in that year that Hana Laszlo won the best Best Actress in Cannes Film Festival? For half of the film she was driving with no expressions or dialog, and even when she spoke she was not convincing. All the actors beside Makram Khoury and Natalie Portman (she was not brilliant) were really bad! But I would say the worst of them all is the director, I did not see any other film he did, but if all his films are like this one, then he should start doing something else!Sorry if my English is not perfect!

This film is one of my top five most painful films to watch. Amos Gitai calls himself a director, but he offers nothing to legitimize that title. He is hardly artistic, but he must see himself as an artist--the way he drowns his audience with the superimposed scenes over and over again; the way he drags his shots on excessively in an attempt to be poignant; the music and sound effects he chose to convey sadness and lost are so exhausting. The result was an incomprehensible and excruciatingly dull compilation of scenes slapped together to make a so-called 90-minute film. I hope that Natalie Portman accepted this role without full comprehension of the director's intentions. If she did, I'm glad that she has already made a name for herself in Hollywood.

This movie will not appeal to everyone, but I think it is worth taking a look nevertheless. There are many parts of this movie that seem to drag on forever, including the end. This is a "road" film, so this is also not for the weak of stomach, the films bounces much of the time. It is shot with 35mm film and provides a delightful look into the perils faced by both Palestinians and Jews living in and around Israel. It paints a very unbiased view of the situation and allows us to look at the problems faced by the two cultures as they come to terms with their own paths in life, which cross quite a bit in this film. If I was to have been the editor on this film, I would have cut out much of the beginning with all of the crying, and I would also cut out the end containing all that pointless bickering. It seems to almost belittle the situations faced by the Palestinians and the Jews. It isn't just about money.

Unlike some other people, I did find this movie to be a great one. Amos Gitaï show us the middle east complexity through three beautiful characters, one Israelian, one Palestinian and one American with Jewish extracts. Those three women are supposed to represent three "forces" who can play a part in the situation over there : Israel, Palestine and the "international community" represented by Natalie Portman's character Rebecca. Rebecca appears to be just a witness to what is happening. Although she tries to get involved and to ease the conflict down her efforts remain without effect. The movie shows as well that Israelians and Palestinians could talk to each other instead of getting at war. They have quite the same problems, they live on the same land, they are quite the same people, they have quite the same cultural background. but some have to forget about their fear and parano while the others need to stop fanatism growing within their ranks. Amos Gitaï wants to show us as well that Israelians should accept to talk to moderate Palestinians. It's the only way to move towards a better tomorrow otherwise fanatics will be their only opponents and there will be no possible dialogue. Some people here have not understood a thing in the movie. I read two main wrong critics. One was about the language used in the movie. It seemed disturbing for some people that the movie is not only in English. But truth is not everybody in the world speaks English ! In Israel, the official language is Hebrew. Palestinians speak Arabic. So it's normal that those three languages (with English) are used and spoken in the movie. Otherwise it would be just sci-fi or American fantasm ! The other thing is about Rebecca's crying at the beginning of the movie. She does not cry about her loss. She and we don't give a damn about this loss. As a near to be witness of the situation in the Middle East, she cries about that, about her uselessness, about the vicious circle which make good people killing each others. That's why as well she leaves running at the end of the movie because she can't help Israel and Palestine to get along. She can't understand their fighting. Thank you Mister Amos Gitaï.