A young man discovers the holiest city in the world can also be full of seductive temptations and ethical challenges in this independent coming-of-age drama. Mendy (Oren Rehany) is the son of a devout Orthodox Jewish family in Tel Aviv. Mendy has been raised to become a man of the cloth, and after completing his basic education, he travels to Jerusalem to attend rabbinical school. However, Mendy soon discovers that Jerusalem is a larger and more cosmopolitan city than the Tel Aviv neighborhood where he was raised, and as he tries to satisfy his curiosity about the larger world around him, he finds himself seriously tempted for the first by the forbidden pleasures of the secular life. Mendy strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mike (Saul Stein), the owner of a local tavern that serves as a watering hole for eccentrics and outsiders of all stripes, whom Mendy gets to know on a first name basis. Mendy also finds himself thinking about sex, and one of his teachers suggests he visit a brothel as a way of confronting his sinful urges head on. There, he meets Sacha (Tchelet Semel), a Russian girl his age whose tragic story and luminous beauty make a strong impression upon him. Also screened under the title The Jerusalem Syndrome, The Holy Land was the first feature film from writer and director Eitan Gorlin, an Israeli expatriate who himself attended rabbinical school before dropping out to explore the possibilities of secular life in the United States. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
It seems clear from the beginning of The Holy Land that writer-director Eitan Gorlin doesn't intend to pull his punches. He makes his points bluntly with broadly drawn characters, blustery dialogue and an occasional scene that seem to be intended to hit the audience like a punch in the gut. Unfortunately, the storyline lacks focus, the scenes don't always flow together smoothly, and the digressive subplots don't quite fit together to form a satisfying whole. But Gorlin does manage to convey the underlying sense of anger and frustration that his characters feel, and his convincingly shows that their lives are messy and complicated. The interactions between Mendy (Oren Rehany) and Sasha (Techlet Semel) suffer from the uneven quality of the dialogue, plus it's hard to overlook that this is yet another movie with a whore who might have a heart of good. However, the film does a very good job of maintaining a sense of ambiguity regarding what Sasha really thinks about Mendy, and Semel does a fine job with a role that could have easily seemed one dimensional. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide