film
Ahed's Knee
[Ha'berech], directed by Navad Lapid, France / Germany / Israel 2021, 101'
- Ahed's Knee is a punk manifesto in spirit, scorching the conscience like the sun in the heart of the desert.
- With a roguish style and a rebellious attitude, Y. arrives in the shrivelled town of Sappir to attend a meeting about his latest film in the local library. Almost everything is dead here, including the sunburned peppers on an abandoned plantation. Yet there is someone who cares about this place: Yahalom, an employee of the Ministry of Culture, makes an ethical compromise and works on restoring life there. Agreeing to the absurdities of the system, however, has its consequences, which Y. provocatively brings to the surface.
- Navad Lapid, the creator of the Golden Bear-winning Synonyms, enters the middle of a national conflict in which dialogue is no longer possible and strategic positions have long since been taken. The country becomes a field of identity and political battle, as well as an object of bargaining, like the revolutionary’s knee in the title, brazenly used by each side of the conflict. The question “to whom does my country belong?” echoes multiplied in the stony landscape of the Negev desert.
