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For My Father

Play trailer Poster for For My Father 2008 1h 40m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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40% Tomatometer 10 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Three different heroes are driven by their past over a weekend in Tel-Aviv.

Critics Reviews

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Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times 01/29/2010
2.5/5
Well-intentioned but philosophically timid, For My Father wants to meditate on the moral reshuffling that can accompany imminent death. Go to Full Review
V.A. Musetto New York Post 01/29/2010
3/4
For My Father is a rarity indeed: A sweet, sentimental movie about a suicide bomber. Go to Full Review
Ronnie Scheib Variety 01/27/2010
Likable but insubstantial. Go to Full Review
Wade Major Boxoffice Magazine 02/01/2010
2.5/5
A well-intentioned but only partially successful attempt to illuminate a situation already well-plumbed by such films as the Palestinian-made Paradise Now and the Israeli-made Lemon Tree. Go to Full Review
Nora Lee Mandel Film-Forward.com 01/29/2010
5/10
Each character's complicated motivations challenge some stereotypes and reinforce others. Immediacy is undercut by formulaic elements, lessening the sense of regret. Go to Full Review
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice 01/28/2010
3/5
Probes the greatest miracle of all: the difficult process of turning enemies into friends. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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06/30/2012 You are our air force. Tarek is a man conflicted. He is an educated man from a privileged upbringing and an athletic background. He has joined a cause that calls for him to be a suicide bomber in Tel-Aviv. He is reluctant to execute the act but goes through with it anyway...but the bomb doesn't explode. After the failure he meets several people that may show him a good reason to live. "Since I was born I couldn't dream." Dror Zahavi, director of The Hunt for Troy, The Airlift, and Civil Courage, delivers For My Father. The storyline for this picture is very interesting and I found the characters worth following and well developed. The acting is excellent and the cast includes Shredi Jabarin, Hili Yalon, and Michael Moshonov. "He died because everyone here is stupid." For My Father is currently airing on demand so I decided to give it a shot. I was surprised the RT scores for this picture were so low. The main character is developed and portrayed so well and the end concludes the picture perfectly. I definitely felt that this is a movie worth your time (especially if it's free on demand). "God won't forgive you?" "I don't want him to anymore." Grade: B+ See more 06/29/2012 Deserved those 7 Israeli Oscars even thought critics don't think so. What was best about this foreign film was the writing. A very depressing story. What I really liked was that it kept to the point. It didn't add anything that wasn't necessary. It was very artistic in a way. The directing was good as well. Nothing real special but good nevertheless. The production values where the worst part but it wasn't too bad that it would have lowered the rating. The acting was really good as well. Very emotional. Overall, this is a depressing and emotional film. See more 04/05/2012 Nominated for seven Israeli Academy Awards in 2008, this is a sensitive movie bout the relationship between a suicide bomber and his would-be victims when his bomb fails to ignite. Its interesting enough to hold your interest and tense enough for the viewer to wonder what will happen next. See more 01/07/2012 Nobody wins, everybody loses. That is what Dror Zahavi shows in this movie about Tarek (Shredy Jabarin), an Arab man who finds himself guilty because of his family's honor is ruined. In this context, he committed himself to honor his family by being a suicide-bomber but the bomb turns out to be a dud, and he end up meeting people suffering because of the same war, Israel vs. Palestine. His trajectory is a no way out, and he is forced to reexamine his choice since he became friends with Katz (Shlomo Vishinsky), an aging eletrician who lost his son in the Israeli army, and with Keren (Hili Yalon), a lovely girl who left her Orthodox family. See more 01/05/2012 Far superior to "Paradise Now" The characters and a glimpse into Israeli society was interesting as well. See more 12/04/2011 A father violinist and son star soccer player, each independently active in pursuit of peaceful personal passions, become alienated by their own community. Overwhelmed by circumstances, the son Tarek finds himself on a suicide terrorist mission to redeem his father's tainted reputation. By the time Tarek is staring at himself in a mirror of shattered glass, he seems past the point of rescue. Interestingly, a charming, friendless Jewish girl at odds with her father and Orthodox community for her own loving, independent pursuit of life's passions, befriends Tarek, the soccer player, while he is secretly wearing the explosive vest. Burdened with the explosive vest, Tarek, still in communication with his family and the terrorist plotters, unexpectedly spends a weekend with the girl. At her request, he reluctantly stays by her side and shares stories with her. At one point, both raise the open-ended question of God's existence. A Jewish elderly man, his neighbor, and wife, also get to know a bit about the soccer player, Tarek. Sharing anger and disappointment at their world, the Jewish elders and Tarek, reveal parts of their own unforgiving past while helping each other with favors. The Jewish man and his wife had considered suicide to escape the painful loss of their only son, who died in training while the Israeli army refused to give him water. Water comes up multiple times in various scenes. The movie has some great lines, and what is left unsaid is even greater in meaning. In spite of the pain and poor judgement of humans, we see ostensibly helpless individuals take decisive action to help one another. irony, humor and wit blended with love, trust and friendship momentarily clarify the muddled, insane worlds, of the broken individuals, families, and communities in this beautifully crafted script. Vibrant, intelligent, and touching. See more Read all reviews
For My Father

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Movie Info

Synopsis Three different heroes are driven by their past over a weekend in Tel-Aviv.
Director
Dror Zahavi
Producer
Nikola Bock, Doris J. Heinze, Shlomo Mograbi, Zvi Spielmann
Screenwriter
Ido Dror, Jonatan Dror
Production Co
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) [de], Praxis Films
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Hebrew
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 16, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.7K
Runtime
1h 40m