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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

View All (10) Critics Reviews
Jeannette Catsoulis New York Times Well-intentioned but philosophically timid, For My Father wants to meditate on the moral reshuffling that can accompany imminent death. Rated: 2.5/5 Jan 29, 2010 Full Review V.A. Musetto New York Post For My Father is a rarity indeed: A sweet, sentimental movie about a suicide bomber. Rated: 3/4 Jan 29, 2010 Full Review Ronnie Scheib Variety Likable but insubstantial. Jan 27, 2010 Full Review Wade Major Boxoffice Magazine 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. Rated: 2.5/5 Feb 1, 2010 Full Review Nora Lee Mandel Film-Forward.com Each character's complicated motivations challenge some stereotypes and reinforce others. Immediacy is undercut by formulaic elements, lessening the sense of regret. Rated: 5/10 Jan 29, 2010 Full Review Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice Probes the greatest miracle of all: the difficult process of turning enemies into friends. Rated: 3/5 Jan 28, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (18) audience reviews
Audience Member 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+ Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Far superior to "Paradise Now" The characters and a glimpse into Israeli society was interesting as well. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/14/23 Full Review Read all reviews
For My Father

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Cast & Crew

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
Praxis Films, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) [de]
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Hebrew
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 16, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.7K
Runtime
1h 40m