A Tale of Love and Darkness (Hebrew)

Synopsis

"The story of Amos Oz's youth, set against the backdrop of the end of the British Mandate for Palestine and the early years of the State of Israel. The film details the young man's relationship with his mother and his beginnings as a writer, while looking at what happens when the stories we tell become the stories we live." [IMDB] The boy "Amos" eventually writes this story and dedicates it to his mother. His mother tells him, "If you have to choose between telling a lie or insulting someone, choose to be generous. Amos responds, I'm allowed to lie?" She says, "Sometimes, yes. It's better to be sensitive than honest."
My mother's dream: milk and honey; make the desert bloom; pioneer. She grew up happy in her home in the Ukraine. Her parents were prosperous. But with the coming of the Second World War, she saw all of her friends killed and her way of life destroyed. It is best not to try to live out a dream because one will be disappointed. His mother also tells him, "Nobody knows anything about anyone, not even the person you marry and not even about ourselves. We know nothing. But if we sometimes imagine that we do know something. That' even worse. It's better to live without knowing than to live in error."
Amos goes to a dinner party hosted by Arabs. He meets a girl about his age and has a meaningful conversation, but this ends badly when the swing he is playing with hits the girl's little brother. The movie expresses hope, "You can find hell and paradise in every room. A little meanness, and people are hell to each other. A little compassion, a little generosity, and people find paradise in each other." In 1947, there is the United Nations vote for the formation of the State of Israel. Amos is with his father in the streets listening to the radio. The proposition passes, and there is celebration in the streets. Later there is civil war.
One of Fania's friends is killed. Fania (the mother of Amos) develops severe migraines and depression. "The promise of her childhood was trampled underfoot and ridiculed by the monotony of life itself. Perhaps when life failed to fill the promises of her youth, my mother began to envision death as a protective soothing lover."
"Behold I call Heaven and Earth today to bear witness that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life so you and your descendants may live."
Fania tells Amos a story about two monks. This same story is recounted in Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" on page 139, "The inability or rather unwillingness of the human mind to let go of the past is beautifully illustrated in the story of two Zen monks, Tanzan and Ekido, who were walking along a country road that had become extremely muddy after heavy rains. Near a village, they came upon a young woman who was trying to cross the road, but the mud was so deep it would have ruined the silk kimono she was wearing. Tanzan at once picked her up and carried her to the other side. The monks walked on in silence. Five hours later, as they were approaching the lodging temple, Ekido couldn't restrain himself any longer. 'Why did you carry that girl across the road?' he asked. 'We monks are not supposed to do things like that.' "I put the girl down hours ago,' said Tanzan. 'Are you still carrying her?"

Genre

Historical

Released

2015

Location

Judaism

No