88. Foxtrot; movie review

FOXTROT
Cert 15
113 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong sexual images

I confess. I have just watched Foxtrot and I am feeling a bit thick.
Why? Because I couldn't work out exactly what had gone on.
In fact, having had the luxury of being sent a review copy, I even replayed what I presumed was a key scene but am still not the wiser.
Only when I read a precis of the film did it all become clear. Relatively.
Samuel Moaz's movie begins straightforwardly enough with an Israeli mother (Sarah Adler) and father (Lior Ashkenazi) told that their son has been killed while serving with the military.
The reaction of both parents is in sharp juxtaposition to the matter-of-fact delivery and 'assistance' from the Israeli army,
The second act is much more surreal, turning to their offspring (Yonathan Shiray) who is part of a four-man team at a remote checkpoint.
Few people pass (the barrier is raised nearly as many times for camels as cars) but the young men still have to maintain their alertness to be able to react to terrorists.
The problem is that 30 minutes of concentrating on the soldiers undertaking a mind-numbingly boring task wouldn't be very cinematic.
Consequently, Moaz drifts towards the surreal, picking up on aimless conversations and nuances of the primitive conditions in which they live.
Inevitably, the boredom leads to disenchantment and complacency and finally renders the soldiers into a state of no emotion at all.
And then there is the third act in which the mother is livid with their father, albeit seemingly unfairly.
Apparently, Foxtrot has caused a stir among the Israeli right because of the way it portrays the country's defence against Palestinians.
In essence, the military is presented as incompetent and its representatives only capable of following rules without emotion.

The film has won so many awards that it is clear it must have hit the mark with those who matter but I am afraid both Mrs W and I, after admiring its opening 20 minutes or so, found that it wandered too far off piste for our tastes.

Reasons to watch: The opening 20 minutes are terrific. 
Reasons to avoid: Its surrealism jars

Laughs: One
Jumps One
Vomit: None
Nudity: Animated
Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? There are 107 military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza.

The final word. Samuel Maoz: "The story functions like a classic Greek tragedy in which the hero summons his own punishment and fights everyone who tries to save him. There is something round in this process, and a sense of irony since Michael ends up just where he started."

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