One Day of Eli’s Life

“Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.”

King Solomon

In Palestinian territory, a local boy provokes an Israeli patrol soldier to chase after him. In this strange chase, the line disappears not only between the pursuer and the pursued, but also between reality and imagination.

The bold mystical fantasy “Eli” of young Israeli directors Sagi Alter and Reut Elad continues to explore the painful topic of the long-standing confrontation between two ancient peoples in the person of an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian boy.

The beautiful and rare name of the Jewish soldier Eli was not chosen by chance and means “perfect” or “fulfilled”, and most importantly, that was the name Akhokhityanin — one of the main and bravest of the soldiers of King David.

By the way, in the historical aspect, David is not only the second king during the unification of the kingdom of Israel, but also the father of the legendary Solomon, during whose reign the vast Jewish state from the “Egyptian River to the Great River Euphrates” entered the phase of its peaceful existence and its highest prosperity, therefore, an elegant mention to that time is a direct author’s reference to the importance of extrapolating the national historical experience to the present.

At the same time, the authors of the film symbolically designate a warrior with the need to always and everywhere dominate, regardless of the justification of such a desire in a particular situation.

This contradiction opens the way to an internal discussion of approaches to overcoming the current socio-political crisis in relations between the two peoples.

And yet, the symbolism of the film, first of all, draws a line from today with its martial law between neighboring nations to the future, when the young Palestinian statehood should grow up with this boy, which so far is only throwing toys at an Israeli army soldier.

And, of course, it’s obvious to all viewers that any desire for dominance in the future does not make any sense already in the present and can only provoke an answer that the authors decided to show through an attack of mystical shadows that foiled the soldier’s uniform and deprived him of weapons.

Further plot development, including a fall into a deep well of time, and the discovery of the key to the door to the original abode of motherly love and care, bring the viewer to an understanding of the final picture of the author’s vision of the problem.

In the final, the audience is shown even more dramatically that otherwise the warrior would direct his own weapons against himself.

Dear viewer, this is just my subjective opinion, and it’s better to see the film at least once myself, in order to truly appreciate the authors’ professional and civic maturity along with the quality of the film’s performance, and make up my own opinion.

Complete collection of author animations from the FAAF.