discop link • #11

content reportnificance left to say about the creationof Israel, DISCPLACED is all the moreremarkable as the film concentrateson the inner thoughts and the constantself-examination and soulsearchingprocesses of these threeheroes on the Eve of Israel's 60 th birthday,rather than providing a documentedaccount of the EXODUSodyssey.DISPLACED also provides anamazing account of the unique lessonsthat were learned in these powerful,but terrible times.Nevertheless, throughout thefilm, billboards appear at times tounderline and simply explain the chronologyof the events that took place.This is a voluntary understatement ofthe historical facts in order to betterenter the lives and minds of Yossi,Mordechai and Ike as they approachthe end of their lives.Frontal interviews have not beenprivileged. Rather, the camera followstheir respective day to day routine andsoon enough, the personal tragediesto which they are still confronted, thequestions related to the faith of theEXODUS that continue to haunt them,the gap between their dreams asyoung immigrants and the hardshipsthat current day Israel holds, emergeas the retaining backbone of this film.At 84, Ike, the captain of the EXO-DUS, looks likes a character out ofPRIZZI'S HONOR. Three years ago, hiswife passed away after severe depression.He made fortunes and lost themYossi HARELDISCOP LINK • #11 • NOVEMBER 07Mordechai ROZMANall, and today, Ike lives alone in a housebuilt as a ship. He spends most of histime dreaming about the love of hisyouth whom he has not seen in 60years.Mordechai, 89, was the leader ofthe EXODUS refugees. He is half paralyzedand has difficulties breathing,but his speech and his witty mind arestill fascinating. Mordechai livesalone, penniless, in an abandoned Kibbutz,far away from one of his sonswho left Israel many years ago tobecome a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.Yossi, 88, the man in charge ofthe entire EXODUS operation, was thehealthiest of the triumvirate until veryrecently. He made millions dealingwith Art and now lives in a beautifulhouse that overlooks the Mediterraneansea.After keeping away from eachother for many years, Ike, a chainsmoker weighing less than 45 kilos,and Mordechai, nicknamed ‘TheOrator’ on the EXODUS, started tomeet again as if no time had passed,ready to argue again!Yossi prefers to stay afar from theother two. However, he is often immersedin lucid self-examination processes,somehow expecting Ike andMordechai to fuel the ‘discussion’ withtheir numerous conflicting points ofviews!All images of Ike, Yossi andMordechai have been shot in Israelexclusively and no more than 10 interviewsof key witnesses based inFrance and in the United States will beintertwined with these images.The simple structure of the filmenhances the feel of intimacy as theseinterviews punctuate DISPLACED witha simple and chronological account ofthe EXODUS odyssey.No archival material has beenused, except at the end of the film:The grainy black-and-white footageof DISPLACED JEWISH REFUGEESaboard the EXODUS that will be usedwill look like any other home movietaken on a cruise ship with passengerswaving and leaning on the boatrailing, despite the fact that this wasno ordinary cruise. }19