Sick Product of a Sick System

Absolutely Fantastic

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a film about a man discovering his conscience; it is brilliantly written, as we meet an impassive, chilly killer-for-hire go quietly about his business, who in the course of his work becomes personally involved with the family of his next victim To reveal too much about the plot would be to spoil a viewer's involvement--it is lushly photographed in Israel, in Germany, deals with the residuals of Fascist rule, with sexist preconceptions, with the nature of love; it's subtle set of themes creep up on you after long after you view the film and realize how much of the film could have gone awry with it's complex overlays of interlacing themes and careful mixture of politics and personal stories.

This film could have been much better had it focused on German-Jewish relations a few decades after the Holocaust. This issue is certainly serious and interesting enough, and it hasn't been discussed in many other films.However, Walk on Water insists on dealing also with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, homophobia, and marriage problems. This is just too much and none of the subjects receive proper treatment.Further, the plot through much of the film is just unreasonable, with one story hole following another.The characters are ridiculously stereotyped, and firstly the tough, racist, homophobic macho Mossad man, confronted with an easy going openly gay German and Palestinian. Knowing how miserable the lives of gay Palestinians are, one should bear in mind that these characters are in no way representative.Yet, the movie was still worth watching for me, for the fresh, though inadequate point of view on German-Jewish relations. I guess people who are interested in Israel could find this movie interesting, though surely there are many films which give a much more realistic picture.

The new propose of famous director from Israel, Eytan Fox, who directs the hard "Yossi & Jagger" comes with a new, if is same of hard, work about the power of forgive and forget, which both are so difficult to any human been.At the first look likes a famous Hollywood thriller, "Walk On Water" the makes us find its real purpose about a film that finds to be the encounter of two cultures, among other things. The story is about Eyal, a Israeli secret agent. He begins a big hard time in his life because his wife commits suicide. After a while, his father, who heads the organization has a new propose for him. The new mission: Be the friend and guide of two German, Axel and Pia. Both are the grandchildren of a Nazi. The organization wants, through this two young people, finds if this man is death or not. At the begin, Eyal finds boring be with people which family be the responsible of the suffer of his own people. But then, he begins to like them. And begin to share things together... and then he finds the secret.With a great soundtrack and beautiful photography and scenery, "Walk on water" is a smashing, great and surprising movie, with a moral question impossible of reject. Eytan Fox made a movie with well defined characters, which one have a purpose which impact in the lead (Famous Isareli actor Lior Ashkenazi): Axel, who is homosexual and redefines the moral concept of Eyal, Pia who don't love the way in which her family manages the things, and finally the father of Eyal, who manages much of certain concepts of Eyal. At the end, the movie gives us the responses of the reality of this characters, and how find the peace that they needs, just walking on water.*Sorry for the mistakes...well, if there any.

"Walk on Water" is courageous film, confidently directed by Eytan Fox based on the screenplay written by his partner Gal Uchovsky and well acted. Its subject is a Mossad's agent whose new mission is to hunt the former Nazi criminal who lives nowadays somewhere in South America. In order to trace him, Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi) takes a job as a tourist guide for the grandson of war criminal - sociable, open, friendly young German, Axel. Axel arrives to Israel to visit his sister Pia who chose to live in Israel and work in a kibbutz and to talk her into reconciling with their parents. Eyal drives Alex in his SUV, shows him the country. They sit on the coast of Dead Sea, both smeared by celebrated therapeutic mud from neck to toes. In another scene, Alex tries to walk on the water of Kinarteth (the Sea of Galilee); three of them visit the gay- bar in Tel Aviv - Alex does not hide his sexual orientation.The characters are interesting and compelling. The story is engaging and I feel connected to the movie the way very few movies make me. I recognize the places I've been to and I've come to love and to dream of seeing them again and again. The film starts in Istanbul, Turkey on the boat over the Bosphor and the guide talks about the bridge between Europe and Asia. I've been on the boat like that and I saw the bridge. Then the action takes place in Israel and I was happy to recognize Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, The Sea of Galilee (Kinereth), The Dead Sea where one just floats without swimming, the desert.The plot moves from Israel to Berlin where Eyal is visiting with his new friend's family. Alex's and Pia's father celebrates his anniversary and for the first time, a helpless dying old man arrives to Berlin, the Nazi criminal, Axel's and Pia's grandfather, Eyal's target. The film explores the moral dead ends of the modern society full of hostility and old unpaid debts. Eyal remembers the history of his country and its people, he knows not from the books about Holocaust. He is a soldier and must be merciless but he has to learn something about understanding from his young German friend. Film attracts by the non-standard approach to the familiar themes of religious prejudices, homophobia, neo-fascism, newest terror and other sources of the hatred, which destroys the world. It would not surprise me to find out that the film has many detractors in Germany, Palestine, and in Israel. The final is a little too neat and belongs to the modern fairy tale genre. I see it as the director's dream that he wanted to come true - the people with different backgrounds, mentalities, history, and preferences would understand one another and would come toward one another with the open hearts and clean thoughts. Dreams, dreams...