Slow-mo for Schlomo

Our rating:

Radu Mihaileanu’s Live and Become is a tale of a boy forced to live his life as an Ethiopian Jew with someone else’s name. Live and Become is designed to be a moving human document using the fallout of Operation Moses (the Israeli army airlifted thousands of Falashas, or Ethiopian Jews to Israel) as a backdrop but really it’s a tale of a boy with absolutely no facial expression going through the motions of fitting in in a new country and possibly embracing a new religion.

When Solomon’s (Mosche Agazai) camp is stormed by the Israelis his mother (Meskie Shibru Sivan) makes the wise decision of letting him go to Israel, she renames him Schlomo and says goodbye with the wise words “Live and Become”. It’s a shame she didn’t tell him to smile too but off he goes into a new life where he’s adopted by a very liberal Israeli couple who have two smartass kids so they probably figured Schlomo might balance things out. I don’t know about you but if I went from a tent to a three bedroom apartment with indoor plumbing I would at least say thank you or, yes, smile but still he remains implacable. Things move along (slowly) and one day when Schlomo’s adoptive mother arrives to pick him up from school she witnesses his vilification. Schlomo has entered puberty much to their revulsion and she proceeds to lick his face in rebellion; it has to be one of the most defiant acts against racism I’ve ever seen on the screen and surely one of the most unhealthy.

Time goes on (slowly) and Schlomo yearns to contact his mother but in the meantime gets himself a girlfriend, almost gets “fixed” by Jewish Fundamentalists and with the help of an Ethiopian community leader known as Qes Amhra (Yitzhak Edgar), he writes letters in Amharic (his mother tongue) to his mother. The final act almost takes the form of a thriller as we wait to see whether Schlomo will reveal his true heritage to his bride, Sarah (Roni Hadar). A lot of time passes and eventually Schlomo, now a doctor, is working in refugee camps back in his home country when across the way he spots a familiar-looking huddled figure. Keep in mind we’ve been some 2 ½ hours for this moment and as Schlomo lets out a scream one would only hear in a delivery suite, Mihaileanu pulls the camera back (finally) at 100 miles an hour and it’s over.

High marks must go to the production values on display here and both Yael Abercassis and Roschdy Zem do a fine job as Schlomo’s adoptive parents Yael and Yoram. Both playing liberal parents sometimes at odds with the archaic values of the world around them, their animated performances all but save Live and Become from the exercise in drudgery it very nearly becomes.

In a funny way, Live and Become reminded me of that Tom Cruise vehicle, Jerry Maguire. The central performance remained as flat as a tack while the colourful collection of supporting players gave the film some life. When a film seeks to take us on a journey as lengthy as Live and Become’s, we need an escort with some drive. No matter what age Schlomo is, he never seems quite up to the task.

Michael Dalton

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Live and Become

Director: Radu Mihaileanu
Cast: Mosche Agazai, Meskie Shibru Sivan, Yitzhak Edgar and Roni Hadar
Release: Limited on 13 April 2006
Rated: M