by Pamela Herrington
Daily Lobo
"The Holy Land," is an unlikely love story between an orthodox Jew and a Russian prostitute.
The film is making its American debut Friday at Madstone Theaters. It was written and directed by Eitan Gorlin and made in Jerusalem during a four-year period when the area was relatively peaceful. It tells the story of Mendy (Oren Rehany), a 21-year-old rabbinical student who is caught with sexual material in Judaism class. Mendy's rabbi tells him to visit a prostitute so he can get rid of this sexual obsession and concentrate on his studies once again. Mendy takes the rabbi's advice and visits a brothel where he meets Sasha (Tchelet Semel), a 19-year-old Russian prostitute. He immediately becomes obsessed with Sasha. Though actors Rehany and Semel are new to the film industry, they give beautiful performances. They effectively lead us into a dark world that is interesting and heart-wrenching.
Mike (Saul Stein), Sasha's favorite client, is an American and former war photographer who owns Mike's Place, a bar in Jerusalem that serves Jews and Arabs. Mendy befriends Mike and discovers a world that is coated with drugs and alcohol.
After another interaction with Sasha, Mendy leaves the safe world of his Jewish parents in order to connect with his spirituality in Jerusalem.
Mike, Sasha and Mendy help Razi (Albert Illuz), a smuggler, get a package into Jerusalem. Although its contents are not disclosed, Sasha and Mendy believe that the transport is drug related.
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Sasha and Mendy stay at Mike's house, where their relationship intensifies. In Jerusalem, Mendy finds a holy land that is no longer holy. Instead, Jerusalem is dark and sad. It's inhabitants carry guns, talk of war and make sexual jokes about God. Mendy discovers that Jerusalem "encompasses ethnic hatred, sexual slavery, greed, terrorism, army brutality, fanaticism in God's name, blackmail, sexual frustration and emotional betrayal," director Gorlin said in a press release. The only holy thing that Mendy has left is his relationship with Sasha, but the two are equally threatened by their varied pasts. As a result, they make plans to escape to America. However, they find that escaping this holy land is very difficult, as the transport of the mysterious package comes back to haunt them.
The film uses English, Hebrew and Russian languages with English subtitles. It won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film in the 2002 Slamdance Film Festival.
