Kippur
Encyclopedia
Kippur is a 2000 Israel
i drama war film
directed by Amos Gitai
. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Gitai and Marie-Jose Sanselme; based on Gitai's own experiences as a member of a helicopter rescue crew during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
. The film stars actors Liron Levo, Tomer Russo and Uri Klauzner in principal roles.
A joint collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by Canal+
and Agav Hafakot studios. It was commercially distributed by Kino International theatrically, and by Kino Video for home media. Following its cinematic release, the film was entered into the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
among other awards selections. Kippur explores war, politics, and human rescue.
Kippur premiered in theaters nationwide in Israel on October 5, 2000. The film was screened through limited release in the United States on November 3, 2000 grossing $114,283 in domestic ticket receipts. In the U.S., Kippur was at its widest release showing in 5 theaters nationwide. It was generally met with positive critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas.
The next morning, they are awakened by Dr. Klauzner (Uri Klauzner), who asks for a ride to Ramat David where he serves on an Air Force base. After transporting Dr. Klauzner to the base, Weinraub and Ruso agree to volunteer with a first-aid rescue team. Their ongoing mission involves evacuating dead and wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Later on October 10, their helicopter crew is deployed to Syria for a covert operation. During their mission, the helicopter is struck by a missile, killing one of the co-pilots and injuring everyone on board. Weinraub and Ruso are among those who survive, and are picked by another rescue helicopter. They become patients at a field hospital, thus ending their role in the war.
, as told by the personal account of Israeli army reservists. On October 6, 1973, the Egyptian army launched a pre-emptive strike on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula
which was followed by a second attack by Syria from the Golan Heights in the north. Although Israel emerged victorious from the war, the sudden defeats that occurred at the beginning of the conflict handed down a terrible psychological blow to Israelis. Previously, the Israeli military believed it had military supremacy in the region. On April 11, 1974, prime minister Golda Meir
resigned with her cabinet followed suit, including chief of staff Moshe Dayan
. Yitzhak Rabin
, who had spent most of the war as an advisor to Elazar in an unofficial capacity, became head of the new government, which was seated in June. The Israeli National Security Council
was created to improve coordination between the different security
and intelligence
bodies, and the political branch of government.
The emotional impact on the individual Israeli soldiers is expanded upon in the film. The complete transformation from a quiet civilian life to a chaotic war scene is depicted in the storyline. The Israeli soldiers cope with assisting dead and seriously wounded troops, while taking enemy fire.
The helicopter crash that ends the film actually happened. Gitai's helicopter was shot down by a Syrian missile on his 23rd birthday. The co-pilot was killed and several others wounded. Gitai reportedly considered it the pivotal moment of his life.
for the film was originally composed by musician Jan Garbarek. The sound effects in the film were supervised by Alex Claude. The mixing of the sound effects were orchestrated by Philippe Amouroux and Cyril Holtz while being supervised by Eli Yarkoni.
reported that 79% of 19 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 6.6 out of 10. At Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average
out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 75 based on 15 reviews. The film was entered into the Toronto
and Cannes
film festivals and received a nomination for the Peace Award from the Political Film Society
.
Kevin Thomas, writing in the Los Angeles Times
said, Kippur was a "classic war film, at once elegiac and immediate, that takes you smack into the chaos of combat yet is marked by a detached perspective." Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly
offered a mostly positive review commenting, "Amos Gitai's intense, autobiographically based drama is set during Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur War, but current Middle East tensions add urgency to this stark study in the unglorious matter of factness of battle." She expressed satisfaction by saying, "this sobering antiwar war movie is his rueful acknowledgment of those who fight with no Godot in sight."
In The Village Voice
, critic J. Hoberman reserved compliment for the lead acting and directing saying, "Gitai's strategy encourages the viewer to ponder the logistics of war—as well as those of filming war." He noted though, that the "ensemble acting sometimes falters, and due to Gitai's camera placement, it can be difficult to distinguish between the various characters—although Klauzner establishes an indelible identity in a brief moment of downtime when he discusses his childhood in Europe during World War II."
A.O. Scott writing in The New York Times
came to believe, "The relentless attention to the sheer awfulness of war, which is the film's great strength, is also something of a shortcoming. Mr. Gitai reproduces the numb horror of wading through fields of gore almost too well: the self-protective response is to shut down your emotions, as the characters do. Kippur immerses you in violence and agony, but it may leave you with a curious feeling of detachment." Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, felt Kippur was "almost abstract in its portrait of confusion. Long, numbing scenes of soldiers rushing through the war zone with the wounded and returning for more are accompanied by an overwhelming soundtrack of tanks, helicopters and explosions." He also reserved praise for director Gitai, saying he "captures a chaotic portrait of the war with no glory, only the confusion, fear, and fatigue of a tour under fire." Author G.A. of Time Out called the film "impressive" while remarking "Gitai's autobiographically inspired account of the harrowing experiences of a first-aid team in the aftermath of Syria and Egypt's surprise attack on Israel in October 1973 typically features long, sinuous takes to chart the way in which patriotic enthusiasm is steadily eroded and replaced by fatigue and disillusionment." In a mixed review, Fred Camper writing for the Chicago Reader felt director "Gitai plunges the viewer into the reality of modern warfare, in which the enemy is often invisible – we never see the Syrians in Kippur – and battle lines are often unclear." Jack Mathews writing for the NY Daily News, believed that instead of "heightening our sense of empathy, we become numbed by the repetition" of the film.
David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor
bluntly referred to the film as "Both a blood-churning war movie and a mind-stirring antiwar movie, focusing not on guts and glory but on the stark realities of real battlefield experience." Critic Ken Fox of TV Guide
was impressed with Gitai's film calling it "Raw" and "completely devoid of the things one expects from a war film: No heroes, no flag-waving, no screeds against man killing man." He exclaimed, "Kippur is about the actual work of combat." Writer Ella Taylor for LA Weekly
viewed Kippur as a "radically different – more nakedly autobiographical, more naturalistic, more forgiving – from Gitai's highly conceptual and stylized body of work, there are clear thematic continuities." Left unimpressed though, was critic Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter
who wrote that the film was "A patience-trying docudrama almost completely devoid of any trace of narrative structure or even defined characters." Critic Leonard Maltin
referred to the film as being "unique" and "a painstaking, grueling picture of war."
soundily beat its competition during that weekend opening in first place with $40,128,550. The film's revenue dropped by 29% in its second week of release, earning $11,981. For that particular weekend, the film fell to 71st place screening in 4 theaters but not challenging a top fifty position. The film Charlie's Angels, remained in first place grossing $24,606,860 in box office revenue. In its final limited weekend showing in theaters, the film ended up in 99th place grossing $1,978. The film went on to top out domestically at $114,283 in total ticket sales through an 10-week theatrical run. For 2000 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 303.
video format on August 28, 2001. The Region 1 Code
widescreen
edition of the film was also released on DVD
in the United States on August 28, 2001. Special features for the DVD include; Letterbox 1.85 screen format, stereo audio in Hebrew with English subtitles, and interactive menus with scene access. Currently, there is no scheduled release date set for a future Blu-ray Disc
version of the film.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i drama war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
directed by Amos Gitai
Amos Gitai
Amos Gitai , born 11 October 1950 in Haifa, Israel, is an Israeli filmmaker and director. He is mainly known for making documentaries and experimental / minimalist feature films...
. The storyline was conceived from a screenplay written by Gitai and Marie-Jose Sanselme; based on Gitai's own experiences as a member of a helicopter rescue crew during the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
. The film stars actors Liron Levo, Tomer Russo and Uri Klauzner in principal roles.
A joint collective effort to commit to the film's production was made by Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
and Agav Hafakot studios. It was commercially distributed by Kino International theatrically, and by Kino Video for home media. Following its cinematic release, the film was entered into the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
among other awards selections. Kippur explores war, politics, and human rescue.
Kippur premiered in theaters nationwide in Israel on October 5, 2000. The film was screened through limited release in the United States on November 3, 2000 grossing $114,283 in domestic ticket receipts. In the U.S., Kippur was at its widest release showing in 5 theaters nationwide. It was generally met with positive critical reviews before its initial screening in cinemas.
Plot
It is October 6, 1973, and Egypt along with Syria have declared war on Israel by launching attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights. Weinraub (Liron Levo) and his friend Ruso (Tomer Ruso) are Israeli citizens who are called up through a military draft to fight in the surprise conflict. The two make their way to the Golan Heights to locate their reserve unit which they served under during their military training. However, during the chaotic circumstances, they never find it, and end up sleeping by the side of the road.The next morning, they are awakened by Dr. Klauzner (Uri Klauzner), who asks for a ride to Ramat David where he serves on an Air Force base. After transporting Dr. Klauzner to the base, Weinraub and Ruso agree to volunteer with a first-aid rescue team. Their ongoing mission involves evacuating dead and wounded soldiers from the battlefield. Later on October 10, their helicopter crew is deployed to Syria for a covert operation. During their mission, the helicopter is struck by a missile, killing one of the co-pilots and injuring everyone on board. Weinraub and Ruso are among those who survive, and are picked by another rescue helicopter. They become patients at a field hospital, thus ending their role in the war.
Development
The premise of Kippur is based on the true story of the Yom Kippur WarYom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, as told by the personal account of Israeli army reservists. On October 6, 1973, the Egyptian army launched a pre-emptive strike on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula
Sinai Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai is a triangular peninsula in Egypt about in area. It is situated between the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Red Sea to the south, and is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia as opposed to Africa, effectively serving as a land bridge between two...
which was followed by a second attack by Syria from the Golan Heights in the north. Although Israel emerged victorious from the war, the sudden defeats that occurred at the beginning of the conflict handed down a terrible psychological blow to Israelis. Previously, the Israeli military believed it had military supremacy in the region. On April 11, 1974, prime minister Golda Meir
Golda Meir
Golda Meir ; May 3, 1898 – December 8, 1978) was a teacher, kibbutznik and politician who became the fourth Prime Minister of the State of Israel....
resigned with her cabinet followed suit, including chief of staff Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan
Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. The fourth Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces , he became a fighting symbol to the world of the new State of Israel...
. Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, who had spent most of the war as an advisor to Elazar in an unofficial capacity, became head of the new government, which was seated in June. The Israeli National Security Council
Israeli National Security Council
The Israeli National Security Council is Israel's central body for coordination, integration, analysis and monitoring in the field of national security and is the staff forum on national security for the Israeli Prime Minister and Government. However, national security decisions typically made by...
was created to improve coordination between the different security
Israeli Security Forces
Security forces in Israel include a variety of organizations, including law enforcement, military, paramilitary, governmental, and intelligence agencies.-Military:...
and intelligence
Israeli Intelligence Community
The Israeli Intelligence Community is the designation given to the complex of organizations responsible for intelligence collection, dissemination, and research for the State of Israel...
bodies, and the political branch of government.
The emotional impact on the individual Israeli soldiers is expanded upon in the film. The complete transformation from a quiet civilian life to a chaotic war scene is depicted in the storyline. The Israeli soldiers cope with assisting dead and seriously wounded troops, while taking enemy fire.
Filming
The film is largely autobiographical, based on Gitai's own experiences as a member of a helicopter rescue crew during the war. Scenes were shot with the assistance of the Israeli Defense Forces which provided much of the military equipment used in the film. Most of the characters are named after the actors who play them, with the exception of the title character, who is given only the last name Weinraub, which was Amos Gitai's family name until his father changed it to the Hebrew name Gitai.The helicopter crash that ends the film actually happened. Gitai's helicopter was shot down by a Syrian missile on his 23rd birthday. The co-pilot was killed and several others wounded. Gitai reportedly considered it the pivotal moment of his life.
Music
The scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
for the film was originally composed by musician Jan Garbarek. The sound effects in the film were supervised by Alex Claude. The mixing of the sound effects were orchestrated by Philippe Amouroux and Cyril Holtz while being supervised by Eli Yarkoni.
Critical response
Among mainstream critics in the U.S., the film received mostly positive reviews. Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reported that 79% of 19 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average score of 6.6 out of 10. At Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
out of 100 to critics' reviews, the film received a score of 75 based on 15 reviews. The film was entered into the Toronto
2000 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, the 25th annual festival, ran from September 7 to September 16, 2000. Along with special events to commemorate the anniversary, there were a total of 330 films screened. There was a special screening of Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky featuring...
and Cannes
2000 Cannes Film Festival
The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...
film festivals and received a nomination for the Peace Award from the Political Film Society
Political Film Society
The Political Film Society is a nonprofit corporation that exists to recognize Hollywood films' ability to raise awareness in political matters in the world. Film makers are the ones who are awarded by this organization...
.
Kevin Thomas, writing in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said, Kippur was a "classic war film, at once elegiac and immediate, that takes you smack into the chaos of combat yet is marked by a detached perspective." Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
offered a mostly positive review commenting, "Amos Gitai's intense, autobiographically based drama is set during Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur War, but current Middle East tensions add urgency to this stark study in the unglorious matter of factness of battle." She expressed satisfaction by saying, "this sobering antiwar war movie is his rueful acknowledgment of those who fight with no Godot in sight."
In The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, critic J. Hoberman reserved compliment for the lead acting and directing saying, "Gitai's strategy encourages the viewer to ponder the logistics of war—as well as those of filming war." He noted though, that the "ensemble acting sometimes falters, and due to Gitai's camera placement, it can be difficult to distinguish between the various characters—although Klauzner establishes an indelible identity in a brief moment of downtime when he discusses his childhood in Europe during World War II."
| "Closely based on Gitai's own combat experience during the Yom Kippur War and filmed with the utmost attention to detail, this mission is the movie—as well as the most radical narrative filmmaking of Gitai's career." |
| —J. Hoberman, writing in The Village Voice |
A.O. Scott writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
came to believe, "The relentless attention to the sheer awfulness of war, which is the film's great strength, is also something of a shortcoming. Mr. Gitai reproduces the numb horror of wading through fields of gore almost too well: the self-protective response is to shut down your emotions, as the characters do. Kippur immerses you in violence and agony, but it may leave you with a curious feeling of detachment." Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
, felt Kippur was "almost abstract in its portrait of confusion. Long, numbing scenes of soldiers rushing through the war zone with the wounded and returning for more are accompanied by an overwhelming soundtrack of tanks, helicopters and explosions." He also reserved praise for director Gitai, saying he "captures a chaotic portrait of the war with no glory, only the confusion, fear, and fatigue of a tour under fire." Author G.A. of Time Out called the film "impressive" while remarking "Gitai's autobiographically inspired account of the harrowing experiences of a first-aid team in the aftermath of Syria and Egypt's surprise attack on Israel in October 1973 typically features long, sinuous takes to chart the way in which patriotic enthusiasm is steadily eroded and replaced by fatigue and disillusionment." In a mixed review, Fred Camper writing for the Chicago Reader felt director "Gitai plunges the viewer into the reality of modern warfare, in which the enemy is often invisible – we never see the Syrians in Kippur – and battle lines are often unclear." Jack Mathews writing for the NY Daily News, believed that instead of "heightening our sense of empathy, we become numbed by the repetition" of the film.
David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
bluntly referred to the film as "Both a blood-churning war movie and a mind-stirring antiwar movie, focusing not on guts and glory but on the stark realities of real battlefield experience." Critic Ken Fox of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
was impressed with Gitai's film calling it "Raw" and "completely devoid of the things one expects from a war film: No heroes, no flag-waving, no screeds against man killing man." He exclaimed, "Kippur is about the actual work of combat." Writer Ella Taylor for LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
viewed Kippur as a "radically different – more nakedly autobiographical, more naturalistic, more forgiving – from Gitai's highly conceptual and stylized body of work, there are clear thematic continuities." Left unimpressed though, was critic Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
who wrote that the film was "A patience-trying docudrama almost completely devoid of any trace of narrative structure or even defined characters." Critic Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Maltin is an American film and animated film critic and historian, author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives.-Personal life:...
referred to the film as being "unique" and "a painstaking, grueling picture of war."
Box office
The film premiered in cinemas on November 3, 2000 in limited release throughout the U.S.. During its opening weekend, the film opened in a distant 66th place grossing $17,007 in business showing at 5 locations. The film Charlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels (film)
Charlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency...
soundily beat its competition during that weekend opening in first place with $40,128,550. The film's revenue dropped by 29% in its second week of release, earning $11,981. For that particular weekend, the film fell to 71st place screening in 4 theaters but not challenging a top fifty position. The film Charlie's Angels, remained in first place grossing $24,606,860 in box office revenue. In its final limited weekend showing in theaters, the film ended up in 99th place grossing $1,978. The film went on to top out domestically at $114,283 in total ticket sales through an 10-week theatrical run. For 2000 as a whole, the film would cumulatively rank at a box office performance position of 303.
Home media
Following its cinematic release in theaters, the film was released in VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video format on August 28, 2001. The Region 1 Code
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
edition of the film was also released on DVD
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
in the United States on August 28, 2001. Special features for the DVD include; Letterbox 1.85 screen format, stereo audio in Hebrew with English subtitles, and interactive menus with scene access. Currently, there is no scheduled release date set for a future Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
version of the film.
External links
- Official website
- Kippur at The Films of Amos Gitai
- Kippur at Rotten TomatoesRotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
- Kippur at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
- Kippur at Box Office MojoBox Office MojoBox Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...