YANA'S FRIENDS (Chaverim Shel Yana, Ha)
Reviewed by Harvey Karten Friends of Film Director: Arik Kaplun Writer: Arik Kaplun, Semyon Vinokur Cast: Evelyn Kaplun, Nir Levy, Shmil Ben Ari, Mosko Alkalai, Dalia Friedland, Vladimir Friedman, Israel Damidov, Lena Sachanova, Jenya Fleisher, Eviatar Lazar, Lucy Dubinchik Screened at: Loews Screening Rm, NYC, 9/25/01
Being an immigrant is no fun. For one thing, you're leaving a country that you're probably attached to. To prove this, listen to Americans who came from other parts of the world to live here refer to "my country." "My country" is usually Puerto Rico or El Salvador or Russia or any one of the two-hundred places from which the U.S. gains new residents. For another, adjusting to life in a new country is anything but easy. To prove this, listen to how many immigrants from non-English-speaking countries talk not English but rather their original language when speaking to others from their homelands. "Yana's Friends," a film by Arik Kaplun which is co-written by Simeon Vinokur, yields universal truths of this nature by focusing on a handful of Russian Jews who went to Israel to live and who for the most part prefer speaking Russian to Hebrew and have a difficult time assimilating into what is to them a strange land despite being inhabited primarily by fellow Jews. How does Yana and how do her friends and neighbors deal with this issue, one which is made even more problematic during the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf in which Tel Aviv faced bombardment by Iraqi Scud missiles?
The film, which swept awards in Israel including that country's "Oscar" for best film director, actress and a host of other tributes, is a warm-hearted, often funny tale with Fellini-esque overtones that opens on Yana (Evelyn Kaplun), a young Russian, pretty and pregnant, a new resident in Tel Aviv who because of a lack of money must share an apartment with an equally young wedding photographer, Eli (Nir Levy). Eli is a fun guy who enjoys the sexual favors of several women and sees an opportunity with Yana as well when the latter's deadbeat husband leaves her broke and returns to his homeland with money that the Israeli government traditionally gives to new settlers. Given the circumstances--a lonely Yana who is attracted to the magnetic Eli, their bond strengthened by the agitation caused by repeated air raids--Yana and Eli develop a passionate relationship. When Valentin Belonogov's camera is not focused on the downscale flat that they share, the lens turns on several other Russian Jews who live in the area, including the aging invalid and World War II hero Yitzhak (Moscu Alcalay), whose granddaughter Mila (Lena Sachanova) exploits him by turning his chair out on the street to attract donations from sympathetic passersby. Mila's husband Alik (Vladimir Friedman) fights regularly with street accordionist Yuri (Shmil Ben-Ari) for space on the sidewalk--all of which contributes to our understanding of the difficulties faced by new occupants of a state that simply does not have enough dignified jobs to accommodate them.
Director Arik Kaplun is himself a product of the dislocations caused by the exodus of Jews from Russia who, like many of his countrymen had been trained for high-level jobs that cannot be accommodated in Israel. Given the need of immigrants other than those who come over with sizable bank accounts for housing, we wonder how these needy people were assigned housing in Tel Aviv when they would more likely to apportioned to border areas and more dangerous communities perhaps in the West Bank or even Gaza. You can imagine, then, how much harder life must be for those who live in remote areas, but director Kaplun does give us a reasonably amusing and sexy take on the subject of dislocation. Given Evelyn Kaplun's own Russian background, we are in awe of her fluency in both her own language and Hebrew in a film which features Russian and Hebrew conversation with English commentary on the battle against Saddam Hussein. While Israel has a fairly thriving film industry, virtually nothing that country turns out can be compared too favorably with the wonderful fare that we get annually from Iran. Nevertheless "Yana's Friends" can be recommended for its humanity, its humor, and its down-to-earth qualities. We see that even during wartime, when gas masks must be donned, romance and everyday business go on. In fact the most amusing scene in the film is an original, headlining Yana and her best friend Eli in erotic embrace while wearing those infernal gas masks.
Not Rated. Running time: 90 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com
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