Bread (1986 film)

Bread
Hebrew: לחם
Written byGilad Evron, Meir Doron.
Directed byRam Loevy
Country of originIsrael
Original languageHebrew
Production
Running time84 minutes
Original release
ReleaseJuly 1986 (1986-07)

Bread (Hebrew: לחם, tr. Lehem) is an 84-minute 1986 Israeli Hebrew-language Prix Italia-winning independent underground dramatic television art film directed by Ram Loevy and cowritten with Gilad Evron [he] and Meir Doron.

Synopsis

The film follows Shlomo Elmaliach (Rami Danon [he]), who loses his job at his town's local bakery when it is forced to close. Rather than join the other unemployed protesters, Elmaliach locks himself in his own home and launches a very personal hunger strike. At first, people come to visit him at his home, and there is even a rumor that television reporters might show up (quickly dismissed by Elmaliach's friend Zaguri, played by Avner Dan [he], who states that “they only come when there is a ruckus”). Gradually, even Elmaliach's own friends abandon him, and he ends up dragging his own family down with him. A son, Baruch (Moshe Ivgy), seeks radical solutions to poverty, while a daughter, Navah (Etti Ankri, who also sings), who has escaped to Tel Aviv-Yafo to study, returns to her home and takes on a job on a production line, and Elmaliach's wife, Mazal (Rivka Bahar [he]), takes on a job as a seamstress. At the end of the film, the factory is reopened as a result of all of the protests, however, by then it is too late for Shlomo Elmaliach. The film was produced by the Israel Broadcasting Authority, was broadcast on Channel 1, features music composed by Nahum Nardi to lyrics written by Nathan Alterman (plus the 1984 song I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder), and stars inter alia Shmil Ben Ari, Jonathan Cherchi [he], Rita Shukrun [he], and Reuven Dayan [he].[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Reception

Ram Loevy (October 2005)

The journalist Uri Klein [he] has compared the film to the works of Alain Resnais, Chris Marker, Agnès Varda, and Michelangelo Antonioni and has opined that it “is still very powerful, and it seems as relevant today as it was on the day it was first aired.”[15] All five films were released in Israel as part of a limited edition DVD boxset in 2009.[16]

References

  1. ^ Parkhomovsky, Marat [he]. רם לוי [Ram Loevy]. Israeli Cinema Testimonial Database (in Hebrew). 20 February 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  2. ^ Schenker, Guilhad Emilio (25 February 2016). חי בסרט – רם לוי [Living in Films – Ram Loevy] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Israeli Educational Television. Retrieved 22 September 2018 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ Kronish, Amy W.; Safirman, Costel (2003). Israeli Film: A Reference Guide. Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger. pp. 40–41, 224. ISBN 9780313321443. OCLC 845524002.
  4. ^ Ne'eman, Judd (2001). "Israeli Cinema". In Leaman, Oliver Norbert Harold (ed.). Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 231, 281, 285–286, 325, 339. ISBN 9781134662517. OCLC 45466264.
  5. ^ Kaufman, Deborah; Plotkin, Janis; Orenstein, Rena, eds. (1991). "Bread". A Guide to Films Featured in the Jewish Film Festival. Berkeley, California: Jewish Film Festival. p. 16. OCLC 25527469. Retrieved 24 September 2018. Reprinted in: Plotkin, Janis; Libresco, Caroline; Feiger, Josh, eds. (1996). Independent Jewish Film: A Resource Guide (3rd ed.). San Francisco: San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. p. 49. ISBN 9780965068802. OCLC 36119531.
  6. ^ Kronish, Amy W. (1996). World Cinema: Israel. Flicks Books. pp. 144, 177, 203. ISBN 9780948911705. OCLC 568122092.
  7. ^ Pinto, Goel [he]. פינטו, גואל (28 December 2015). רטרוספקטיווה לבמאי רם לוי לכבוד 20 שנה ללחם [A Retrospective in Honor of the Director Ram Loevy Honoring Twenty Years of Bread]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  8. ^ Levy, Maya (15 October 2009). תוגת הישראליות [The Melancholia of Israeliness]. At Magazine (in Hebrew).
  9. ^ Offek, Assa; Kedar, Eran (24 September 2012). מחלקים דיוידנדים: חשבון הנפש שלכם מול המסך [Disseminating Dividends: Your Moral Reckoning vis-à-vis the Screen]. Yedioth Ahronoth (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  10. ^ Ziv, Nevo (15 December 2015). בקול רם [In a Mighty Voice]. Yedioth Ahronoth (in Hebrew).
  11. ^ Gross, Natan [he; pl]. הסרט העברי – פרקים בתולדות הראינוע והקולנוע בישראל: 1896–1991 [The Hebrew Film – Chapters in the Annals of Silent and Sound Cinema in Israel: 1896–1991] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Natan and Yaacov Gross. 1991. pp. 374, 420, 454, 462, 464. OCLC 27221790. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  12. ^ "Bread – A Television Drama". New Outlook. Vol. 30. Tel Aviv-Yafo: Tatzpiot Ltd. and Mapam. 1987. p. 46. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  13. ^ Schäfer, Horst; Schobert, Walter (September 1995). "Bread". Fischer Film Almanach 1995: Filme, Festivals, Tendenzen, mit TV- und Video-Erstaufführungen (in German). Stuttgart und Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag. ISBN 9783596127627. OCLC 832650440. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  14. ^ Schnitzer, Meir [he]. הקולנוע הישראלי: כל העובדות, כל העלילות, כל הבמאים וגם ביקורות [Israeli Cinema: All Facts, All Plots, All Directors, and All Critiques] (in Hebrew). Or Yehuda and Jerusalem: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan. 1994. p. 28. ISBN 9789652863782. OCLC 31817606. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  15. ^ Klein, Uri (8 August 2009). "Not By Bread Alone". Haaretz. Retrieved 22 September 2018. Hebrew original: Klein, Uri (30 July 2009). לא על לחם לבדו [Not By Bread Alone]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 23 September 2018.
  16. ^ Loevy, Ram (2009). 5 סרטים של רם לוי [5 Films By Ram Loevy] (DVD) (in Hebrew). Ramat HaSharon and Jerusalem: Globus United King Films. OCLC 664665925. Reported in: חדש בדי.וי.די: מארז סרטיו של רם לוי [New on DVD: A Ram Loevy Films Boxset]. Maariv (in Hebrew). 14 July 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2018. Schiff, Einav (13 July 2009). מארז מהודר לסרטיו של הבמאי רם לוי [An Exclusive Boxset of the Films By the Director Ram Loevy]. Walla! News (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 September 2018. Tessler, Yitzhak (9 September 2009). שמאל טוק [Leftist Talk]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 September 2018. Nuriel, Yehuda [he]. Offek, Assa (13 August 2009). רם ונישא [High and Mighty]. Third Ear (in Hebrew). Retrieved 22 September 2018.