Walk on the wild side

Our rating:

Eytan Fox’s Walk on Water is one of those rare films that defy categorisation. Initially, we are led to believe its’ narrative will concern itself with political intrigue as we witness the cold, calculated methods with which our hero Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi) dispatches a target and then celebrates with his comrades for a job well done. As the film continues, it becomes a tale of the clash between cultures and prejudices. Then it segues into a study of human emotion as these clashes and prejudices are slowly overcome. Unpredictable and yet contrived all at once, its’ weakness lies in the neatness of its’ denouement.

Eyal is a Mossad assassin who’s been assigned to terminate a German guilty of war atrocities who somehow managed to slip through the cracks. His whereabouts is suspect and to find the man, Eyal befriends his two grandchildren, Axel (Knut Berger) and Pia (Caroline Peters). Axel is due to arrive in Israel (luckily) shortly and so Eyal becomes a tour guide of sorts to show him around. From this point, Walk on Water becomes a buddy movie as they slowly develop a friendship that includes bathing in the Dead Sea and, to Eyal’s surprise, visiting gay bars. Much to Eyal’s fascination and revulsion, Axel effortlessly lands himself a one-night stand. Meanwhile, Eyal seems to be showing a vague interest in Pia which is vaguely reciprocated. With Axel believing his grandfather to be dead, Eyal starts to think this assignment is a total bust and resigns assuming it pointless. Not quite. From there it’s off to Germany for the final showdown. Or at least that what it seems to be. Still, all is not lost as in the final act Eyal realises that this violent life may not be for him anymore and he turns to Axel for the requisite mercy hug. I shouldn’t be so critical and while it’s undeniably heartfelt, I found myself wondering, how did we get here?

The performances here are uniformly good. Ashkenazi does a fine job here as Eyal. Handsome and strong, the man’s in almost every scene and it’s a credit to him how well he sustains it. Walk on Water is his film all the way and he makes the most of it with a full plethora of emotions ranging from tenderness to complete outrage. Berger is just so lovable as Axel and he and Ashkenazi complement each other beautifully. The scenery is really something else. Cinematographer Tobias Hochstein does a wonderful job capturing Israel’s beauty and his camera fairly drinks in the wonderful symmetry of modern German architecture. Yet another unusual touch is the bizarre scoring which mostly consists of pop music. Remember what I said about defying categorisation? It does make it difficult to steep oneself in a thriller when one feels like dancing.

The most curious thing about Walk on Water is that while its’ narrative is strange to behold with perhaps too many genres packed in together, in it’s own way it is entertaining and it is interesting. I just don’t know if I liked it.

Michael Dalton

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Walk on Water

Director: Eytan Fox
Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, Caroline Peters
DVD release: 29 March 2006