Live And Become

Although it’s true that French-Romanian director Radu Mihaileanu’s ambitious – and brave – attempt to dramatise the tortuous experience of Falasha Jews brought to Israel in the partly-clandestine, Mossad-organised, ‘Operation Moses’, following their post-famine exodus in 1984, succumbs to certain dramatic conventionality, that by no means minimises its impact and sincerity.

Mihaileanu picks on one such immigrant, Schlomo, a nine-year-old Ethiopian (played by three actors) who, in order to be saved, has fabricated a Jewish heritage and then follows the searing contradictions operating on him over the next 20 years. It’s a sensitive, clearly socially engaged, but subtle and nicely-acted tale of difficult readjustment, suffering and loss. The boy – although lucky to be fostered by a liberal, enlightened middle-class (French) family – must deny his mother’s existence as one of the prices he must pay. It’s also unafraid to broach such difficult, not to say, taboo subjects, as cultural elitism and racism, operating within the heart of Israeli society. Armand Amar’s score may be a touch over-emphatic, but in general, the tone is exemplarily balanced.