Image of Victory explained

Native Name:
Director:Avi Nesher
Producer:Ehud Bleiberg
Elad Gavish (executive)
Starring:
  • Joy Rieger
  • Amir Khoury
  • Ala Dakka
Cinematography:Amit Yasur
Editing:Isaac Sehayek
Music:Tom Oren
Studio:Bleiberg Entertainment and
Runtime:128 minutes
Country:Israel
Language:

Image of Victory (Hebrew: תמונת הניצחון) is a 2021 Israeli film directed by Avi Nesher. The film includes a reenactment of the battle and subsequent loss of Kibbutz Nitzanim during Israel’s War of Independence and is based on real events.[1] [2] [3]

The film was nominated for fifteen categories in the 2021 Ophir Awards and won three of them: Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Costume Design.[4]

Plot

The story takes place between late 1947 and June 1948, and focuses mainly on the days before the Battle of Nitzanim and on the battle itself (7 June 1948), at the end of which Nitzanim is conquered by the Egyptian forces and the surviving defenders are taken prisoners.

A young Egyptian journalist, Hassanin (Amir Khoury), accompanies an Egyptian volunteer fighting force heading to aid the Palestinian Arabs, as a director of a propaganda film to capture an "image of victory" of the Egyptian Army. They set camp the foot of the kibbutz within which the members, together with a platoon of the Givati Brigade, prepare to defend.

Cast

Source:[5]

!Actor Name!Character Name!Character Background
Joy RiegerMira Ben-Ari[6] Nitzanim kibbutz member
Amir KhouryHassaninEgyptian journalist sent to capture an "image of victory" for the Egyptian side
Ala DakkaKhalifCommander of the Egyptian force
Eliana TidharAdaKibbutz member, immigrant from Argentina, Hadassa's cousin, works in the kibbutz's children's house
Tom AvniYareakh BleibergKibbutz member, dairy farmer
Meshi KleinsteinHadassaKibbutz member, immigrant from Argentina, Ada's cousin
Elisha BanaiElyakim Ben AriKibbutz member, Mira's ex-partner
Netta RothNaomiKibbutz member
Elad LeviKhaim "J'amous" (Buffalo)Soldier in the Israeli force
Yadin GellmanAvraham SchwarzsteinCommander of the Israeli force
Gil CohenKhabaniSoldier in the Israeli force
Adam GabayBen GigiSergeant of the Israeli force
Amit Moresht"Kilometer"Soldier in the Israeli force
Nir KnaanZigiKibbutz member, immigrant from Germany, pianist, Holocaust survivor
Yonatan BarakAbba KovnerPolitruk
Hisham SullimanCinema logs producer
Abdallah El AkalSalman
Itamar ZoharRomekKibbutz member
Noam SegalDani Ben AriSon of Elyakim and Mira
Kamal ZaidYousuf

Reception

Hannah Brown in a review by The Jerusalem Post called the film "a great anti-war epic". She praised it as "not so much a political movie as an existential statement about the price paid, quite literally, for the image of the title. Image of Victory is the crowning achievement of Nesher’s career and it is the rare movie that may change the way you look at the world."[2]

Leslie Felperin of The Guardian was more critical, writing that "A film that tries to empathise with everybody runs the risk of pleasing no one, and no doubt there will be viewers enraged by this or that detail or unspoken perspective, but the ambition is nevertheless pretty impressive and on the whole well executed."[3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Image of Victory . ajff.org . 12 June 2022.
  2. Web site: Avi Nesher’s ‘Image of Victory’ is a triumph of cinema - review . The Jerusalem Post JPost.com . 12 June 2022.
  3. Web site: Image of Victory review – study of the Arab-Israeli conflict from all angles hopes to heal . the Guardian . 12 June 2022 . en . 16 May 2022.
  4. Web site: Horovitz . Michael . ‘Image of Victory’ to be first Israeli-made film to stream on Netflix Israel . www.timesofisrael.com . 12 June 2022.
  5. Web site: Image of Victory . Haifa 38th International Film Festival . 12 June 2022 . en.
  6. aderet . ofer . 'Tell Danny He Had a Mother' .