http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:05:12 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/02/14/161821.php#comment-537208 I haven't seen the movie - so I can't comment on it per se. I can comment on what it appears to be reflected in your review. This is not because I live in Israel, but because I am a police volunteer in Jerusalem with the precise same duties as the young women in that are depicted in the film. The big difference is they are probably depicted with M16's and I carry an M1. Arab terrorism is a very real threat here. And in Jerusalem, it has scarred many parts of the city. The most scarred are the city center, French Hill trampiada, and innumerable buses. The French Hill trampiada has suffered at least four attacks, some with rifles, some with belt bombs. The State has gotten around to putting up plaques to memorialize the victims of two terror attacks. The point here is, as we say in Hebrew, "zeh kol biglalkhá, Havér" - "it's all because of you, friend". In other words, there would be no need to check Arabs who seem suspicious if there were not at least 80 possible terror attacks called in every day here, a point this film probably does not dwell on at all. From your description, it appears that the terror and the threat of it is taken for granted, and thus it seems wrong to check those persons who might commit it. Tell that to my doctor, who lost a daughter in a terror attack in downtown J-lem, or to the woman who need ed several surgeries to correct the injuries of a bus bombing, or to the relatives of Hezi Goldberg, a social worker who was killed in a bus bombing. These are things the makers of this film do not appear to care about. As I mentioned, I did not see this film, so I cannot comment on the film itself. But speaking from my own knowledge as a uniformed police volunteer, it is very rare for soldiers to be assigned to guard against terrorism in the city of Jerusalem. The folks in khaki who do the heavy lifting in this task are the Border Police, known in Hebrew as Mishtéret G'vul or Maga"v for short, and they are volunteers who have to be accepted in a high profile unit that is a military unit attached to the Israel Police. You don't get in so that you can get laid, or do your nails, or run off to the hairdresser. Maybe the army (Tzah"al, the IDF) is like that here. The command structure of the army is killing its morale, and the political echelon makes it even worse by making it impossible to carry out an effective offensive against terrorists in their own lairs. But this is not true of the Maga"v. Nevertheless, I'll check details on this film to see if it is available "close to home". You've roused my curiosity. 537208@blogcritics.org Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:05:12 EST