Sounds of Silence
Campfire: A Film by Joseph Cedar
Reviewed by Tali Yahalom
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The stereotype of the stoic sabra— the native-born Israeli who is tough from years of both external and internal war—has existed in Israel since its early stages of nationhood. This, along with a strong spirit of patriotism, dominates the idealism of settlers who see the State of Israel as the fulfillment of a biblical promise. In Campfire, Israeli film director Joseph Cedar critically examines this segment of Israeli society. Through the characters of Rachel and Tammy— women whose strong, patriotic spirits collide with their emotional sterility and privacy—Cedar shows us an often dark, but very real, picture of Israeli society.
Set in 1981, Campfire follows Rachel Gerlick (Michaela Eshet), a new widow, as she desperately seeks acceptance into a religious Zionist settlement near Ramallah. Rachel’s choice of actions accurately reflects the historical reality of the time. Indeed, after Israel withdrew from the Sinai desert, in keeping with its peace treaty with Egypt, right-wing political parties seized the opportunity to settle areas in the West Bank. As the film traces Rachel’s sycophantic attempts to join the group, Cedar bluntly mocks the idealism evident not only in Rachel and her younger daughter but also in the general Israeli religious settlement movement. He pinpoints the stereotypical settler mentality characterized by the over-idealized notion that love for the land alone can sway the government and pursue party goals.
This idealism manifests itself not only in the political and religious expectations of the characters, but in their personal lives as well. Tammy (Hani Furstenbourg), Rachel’s younger daughter, naively expects that exchanging crude jokes with a group of boys will win her the affection of bad-boy Rafi (Oshri Cohen). In one of the film’s most disturbing moments, Tammy’s hopes of a “good year” are shattered when she is molested by Rafi and his friends at a bonfire. With similar naiveté, Rachel believes that acceptance into the settlement movement will serve as the necessary panacea to her loneliness and pariah status. Here too, Cedar traces another downfall, and exposes the chinks in the settlers’ armor of lofty idealism and allegedly religiously-motivated goals. According to Cedar, in his production notes, the 1981 settlement movement consisted of “mostly middle-class citizens who used the political atmosphere of the time as an excuse to take advantage of what they considered a good real estate opportunity.”1 Settlement group leader Motke judges applications based on fiscal potential; settlers are found to be two-faced, eager to cloak themselves in the costume of the idealistic dreamer in order to exploit a lucrative patch of land. The classic campfire and settlement meetings, typically meant to epitomize religious Zionism’s idea of unity and brotherhood, turn out to be defiled with molestation and, in the end, welcome only discord. These instances, and others, depict Cedar’s sentiment that “ideology is merely a mask covering basic human motivations.”2
Cedar himself is no stranger to religious Zionism. Born in 1968, he grew up as a religious Jew in a Zionist neighborhood in Jerusalem. “My teachers, my parents’ friends, and my friends’ parents were mostly considered right-wing politically and supported the settlement movement that gained momentum then as a reaction to the peace treaty with Egypt and Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai desert,” Cedar said in his production notes.3 This intimate knowledge of the movie’s characters lends legitimacy to his sharp critiques.
The skepticism prevalent in Campfire is hardly surprising when one considers Cedar’s previous work. His earlier film, Time of Favor, similarly questions the motivations of the religious Zionist movement. Directed in 2000, Time of Favor follows the historical struggle between the religious and secular forces in Israel to gain national power. Time of Favor, like Campfire, was widelyreceived and even earned six Israeli Academy Awards. Perhaps, then, it is his repeated emphasis on the heated religio-political tensions that has helped Cedar land so many awards.
Yet, in Campfire, Cedar is not only critiquing the religious Zionist movement; he is also critiquing an aspect of Israeli identity—the stoic image of the sabra. In a society that has historically championed macho characters and repressed emotions, Cedar continuously reminds the audience that such attitudes can only lead to disaster. Rachel, the archetypical fanatic, seems borderline crazy. In one attempt to regain control of her volatile world, she smashes her eldest daughter’s bedroom window with a hammer in order to prevent her and her older boyfriend from finding complete privacy. And as Rachel passes her unhealthy and delusional tendencies on to Tammy, it is no surprise that Tammy’s silence regarding her molestation similarly backfires when neighbors spray paint “whore” onto her wall and spread inflated rumors throughout the gossipobsessed community.
Tammy’s transformation into a mini-Rachel is logical given the culture in which the women find themselves. And it seems that this is Cedar’s point—he is criticizing the broader Israeli emphasis on machismo through the characters of Rachel and Tammy. Rachel and Tammy share an insistence on keeping quiet about internal conflicts and consuming emotions, much like the macho sterotype of the sabra. For example, Rachel encourages, and even demands, her daughters to say that their father— already dead for two years—is out of town when people inquire about his broken Peugeot that the family is trying to sell. Similarly, after the episode at Rafi’s bonfire, Tammy refuses to tell anyone what happened but cries for hours in her room by herself. Rachel’s eldest daughter, Esti (Maya Maron), later articulates this encouraged silence when she attempts to placate Tammy by advising her to “take a deep breath and hold it until high school is over.” Although Esti seems to be more in touch with reality—she refuses to lie to prospective buyers about her father’s death—this approach, too, is depicted negatively as Esti is quickly seen as the misunderstood wild-child who cannot make peace with her mother.
Still, the panoply of awards that Campfire garnered shows that the Israeli public indeed agrees with, or at least relates to, Cedar’s harsh critique of Israeli society. Though Campfire was boycotted by a group of religious conservatives in Israel, it was widely applauded by the left. Indeed, in the aftermath of the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, the Israeli public is questioning the validity and viability of the settler movement altogether and Cedar’s film seems to be adding to the debate. Campfire leaves the audience with the unsettling message that stereotypes regarding both religious Zionists and sabra-esque characters are actually rather accurate. Through challenging the often glorified image of the sabra, Cedar adds realistic dimensions and human layers to a society plagued by self-imposed unrealistic expectations.
Tali Yahalom is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences. She works as a beat reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Notes
1. http://www.campfiremovie.com/ eng/synopsis/index.htm
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.