By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.375
Director: Eytan Fox
Starring: Carola Regnier | Caroline Peters | Ernest Lenart | Gideon Shemer | Hanns Zischler | Knut Berger | Lior Ashkenazi
Country: israel, sweden
Year: 2005
Running time: 104
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0352994/combined
Hilary says: “Lior Ashkenazi (LATE MARRIAGE) stars in Eytan Fox’s (YOSSI & JAGGER) latest movie as Eyal, an Israeli Mossad assassin, who has been assigned to investigate a Nazi officer at the behest of his boss, Menachem (Gideon Schemer).
“Menachem assigns Eyal to pose as a tour guide to show the officer’s grandson, Axel (Knut Berger), around Israel. Axel has come to visit his sister, Pia (Caroline Peters), who has left their family and Germany to live on a kibbutz. Axel has never fully understood why his sister is estranged from the family, but finds out that Pia has discovered that their parents have been helping their Nazi officer grandfather hide since the end of the war.
“Eyal is frustrated with the assignment, for he feels that people have forgotten about the Holocaust and need to continue to live in the present. He also struggles with the realization that he is no longer able to kill, since the suicide of his wife. Additionally, he is angry when he realizes that Axel if gay, only after spending time traveling with him one-on-one, including several homoerotic exchanges.
“Each of this issues would be deserving of serious exploration, but all together they get watered down and glossed over as the film slides towards a melodramatic conclusion and a truly cheesy coda. The script is one of the weakest I’ve seen on film in a long time. Purely movie-of the-week caliber, which wastes Ashkenazi’s talent. 2 cats”
Michael responds: “Wow. I loved WALK ON WATER. Does it speak to me in a more personal way? I’m not sure. I do think that director Eytan Fox tells very simple, direct stories, avoiding surprises, twists and turns so in vogue in today’s cinema. YOSSI & JAGGER, which I also loved, didn’t really appeal to a lot of people because they felt that it was slight… a very basic story with no
surprises. I think that’s one of the things I liked the most about it. I just wanted to send a quick response to Hilary’s message, which I completely see where she’s coming from, although I disagree, before I send out my own review.”
Michael says: “I am only familiar with Eytan Fox’s last two films, WALK ON WATER and YOSSI & JAGGER, but what I enjoy about them is the straightforward manner with which he tells powerfully moving stories that explore the human heart in unconventional settings. I think that Fox’s straightforwardness is one of the things some of his detractors complain about.
“What I love about Fox’s films is how contemporary they are, and how the characters in his films are often involved in very violent, ‘male’ arenas, but his films are all about emotion, and the sharing of that emotion.
“In WALK ON WATER, Lior Ashkenazi (so great in the little-seen LATE MARRIAGE) plays Eyal a Mossad assassin whose life has been filled with death and recently, tragedy. Eyal is assigned to befriend Axel and Pia, two siblings whose grandfather was a Nazi criminal, to find out if he is still alive and to dispose of him if necessary. Eyal is annoyed by this post at first, but gradually grows closer to both Axel and Pia. After several days of showing Axel around Israel, Eyal discovers that Axel is gay, and it throws him for a loop. Eyal claims to be a typical man, who doesn’t share his emotions, but keeps them bottled up inside. As his work for the Mossad begins to suffer, Eyal believes it is his growing ability to connect more with his emotions through conversation and interaction with Axel, but we see that it is more likely the very bottling up of his emotions that begins to impair his work.
“Fox uses music to great effect, and paints a complex picture of contemporary Israel. Bob noted that Fox touches upon the Israeli/Palestinian conflict very lightly in both of his films, but I found that to be telling in a different way. That is not the conflict Fox wishes to focus upon in his stories, yet he doesn’t ignore it. He inserts it into the story as an ever-present situation without allowing it to overcome the story he is trying to tell.
“I also appreciated the way Axel’s homosexuality, while integral to the plot, is not, in and of itself, the central focus. He explores it in the context of how it affects Eyal, and allows him to ultimately open up to Axel. There is a very funny scene when Eyal asks Axel about his homosexual experiences.
“It’s true, the film wraps in a very upbeat, sweet way, and does so rather quickly after the climax of the storyline, similar to the way he wraps up YOSSI & JAGGER, but I didn’t find it jarring or sappy the way other critics have. I found it a moving coda that may not have been necessary, but worked in the context of the story.
“I would highly recommend WALK ON WATER as a moving exploration of the importance of being in touch with your emotions, especially in complex situations. I thought the acting was terrific as well. Ashkenazi is strong as the emotionless assassin who slowly opens up. Knut Berger handles his catalyst role well, and Caroline Peters impressed me in her smaller role as Pia. 4 cats”
Bob says: “I think I’m a bit closer to Hilary than Michael on this one.
“I appreciated that Fox was trying to use a number of factors and perspectives to get the message across: Jews/Arabs, Gays/Straights, Jews/Germans, Old/Young, and maybe Closed-Minded/Open-Minded. Michael’s review mentions that I pointed out that the Israeli/Palestinian thing is only touched on, but I really wasn’t accurate in saying that. After all, there’s the constant undercurrent of bombings and how they’re responded to. I thought it was interesting (although I don’t know what to make of it) that the music the radio station traditionally played on the day after a bombing was the sort Axel happened to like.
“But the ending, with its TWO YEARS LATER intertitle is a bit pat, and what we see at the end takes a lot away from the interesting collection of perspectives the film has shown us by basically saying that one of the many perspectives is the right one.
“I’ll give it 3 cats, but one of them seems to be having second thoughts and may walk away at any time.”
Bruce says: “WALK ON WATER is a drama which depicts very real people dealing with important issues yet maintains an air that is lighter than its subject. Part of the joy of watching this film is the juxtaposition of comic moments with chilling suspense.
“The opening scene involves a syringe which makes us wonder if the carrier is a drug addict. Seconds later, when he cleverly bumps into a man on a Mediterranean quay in Lebanon, it is obvious that we are witnessing an assassin doing his day’s work. His name is Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi) and he returns home to Israel find his wife has committed suicide. His boss Menachem (Gideon Shemer) has concerns regarding Eyal’s ability to carry on with his day to day tasks given his fragile emotional state.
His job is one that requires great sang-froid.
“Fearing Eyal is not ready for more field work, Menachem assigns him to act as a tour guide to Axel Himmelman (Knut Berger) who has come to Israel from Berlin to visit his sister Pia (Caroline Peters) who is living on a kibbutz. Menachem suspects the two Himmelmans will lead Eyal to their grandfather, a famed Nazi who may still be alive in Argentina. Menachem wants to get the old man ‘before God does’ acting as though he and God are players on equal ground.
“Axel is a rich kid who is a bit of a flower child, choosing to teach children with disabilities over going into his father’s lucrative
business. He is acting as a family emissary to convince Pia that she should return home for their father’s birthday. Pia is estranged from the family and refuses to speak to her parents. Eyal is pissed off that he has to play tour guide to a peacenik. One night Alex chats up a waiter at a restaurant and shortly Eyal finds himself in a gay bar with Pia and Alex. Pia is comfortable with her brother’s gayness; Eyal is not. Pia suggests that Eyal might be jealous. Meanwhile, Eyal is learning nothing about the Himmelman family or the missing grandfather. He wants another assignment; Menachem is insistent that he stay on the job.
“When Eyal escorts Alex to the Dead Sea the two of them gradually begin to bond. After Alex returns to Berlin Eyal decides to pay Alex a surprise visit. The two of them are attacked by skinheads in the Berlin subway. Alex invites Eyal to his parents’ home for his father’s surprise birthday party.
“The film zeroes in on the human need for revenge and the lengths people feel justified to go to in achieving it. There is more than one twist in the film as the characters walk the thin line between right and wrong. The film examines how extremely different motivations may result in similar actions. Fox certainly is a man who believes that each of us must act from our heart because, in the end, we are all accountable to ourselves for what we do. WALK ON WATER is the story of a man’s search for himself and how a serendipitous relationship saves him. Lior Ashkenazi and Knut Berger are both excellently cast and perform brilliantly. 4.5 cats”