Susan Granger’s review of “The Holy Land” (CAVU Pictures)
Set in Israel, this strange, disquieting coming-of-age story begins as Mendy (Oren Rehany), a sexually distracted rabbinical student, is advised by his Orthodox rabbi to abandon his Torah studies and visit a prostitute to “get it out of his system.” Following that dubiously believable suggestion, he goes to a Tel Aviv brothel where he becomes obsessed with Sasha (Tchelet Semel), a Christian girl from Russia. A rugged American war photographer named Mike (Saul Stein) befriends him, revealing that Sasha hangs out at his bar in Jerusalem. Soon, Mendy’s working at “Mike’s Place,” a dive where Jews and Arabs drink side-by-side. That’s where he finds Razi (Albert Illuz), an Arab smuggler/collaborator, and The Exterminator (Arie Moskuna), an American-born Jewish settler with an M-16. As the plot unfolds, shy, lovelorn Mendy and feisty, hot-tempered Sarah inadvertently become pawns in the never-ending ‘intifadah’ or holy war. What distinguishes writer/director Eitan Gorlin’s ambitious, if muddled, prodigal son concept are the rich, local details and exotic, intoxicating locations, which perhaps lend unwarranted authenticity to the somewhat confusing story. Raised as an American Orthodox Jew, Gorlin first visited Israel at age 17, attending a Zionist yeshiva where religious studies and military service were combined. He came back to the United States for college before returning to Israel, where he worked as a bartender and spent a year in the Israel Defense Forces. His diverse experiences were chronicled in “Mike’s Place, A Jerusalem Diary,” which served as the basis for this film. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Holy Land” is a contrived, ambiguous 5, perhaps best conveying what life in Jerusalem is really like beneath the tourist facade.
