Screenings of “Beyond the Mountains and Hills” at Vancouver International Film Festival

Compassionate and critical in equal measure, Erin Kolirin’s (The Band’s Visit) film is a long, hard look at an Israeli family. Meet the Greenbaums: David (Alon Pdut) is the patriarch, retired from military service and trying his hand at the food-sales business; wife Rina (Shiree Nadav-Naor) is a schoolteacher driven to look for passion outside the home; son Omri (Noam Imber) is mostly withdrawn until a decisive moment; and daughter Yifat (Mili Eshet) is a subversive spirit whose convictions lead her into dangerous territory.

David is a man who, after 27 years of serving his country, is ill-suited to the petty hustling involved in his new civilian position; like many of us, he doesn’t know how to release his frustrations. In a moment of anger, the man fires his gun into the distant hills beyond his home and it’s in the repercussions of that event that Kolirin’s ideas come to the fore. His movie is powerful stuff, made to engage and challenge our sympathies, and the strong ensemble of performers anchors the film in messy human reality.

• Director Eran Kolirin
• Country of Origin:Israel/Germany
• Year:2016
• Running Time:90 mins
• Cast: Alon Pdut, Mili Eshet, Shiree Nadav-Naor, Noam Imber, Yoav Rothman