Jason goes to SFJFF to see CENSORED VOICES

Once again with two lovely ladies. The real pursuit of the day was to eat as much ice cream as possible--in 4 different places, starting with Bi-Rite and ending here:

But that's another story, and this blog is nominally about the movies. So along the way we stopped off at the beautiful Castro Theatre (the first time for both of them, quite a thrill!) for my final screening of SFJFF 2015.

First the short THE ARREST. In an alternative reality, Palestinian police officers break down a Jewish family's door and start arresting people while the occupants are completely confuses as to what's going on.

And then the feature CENSORED VOICES. Shortly after the six day war in 1967, several soldiers recorded audio interviews on kibbutzes. These were censored by the Israeli Army, and only recently released. Director Mor Loushy tracks down the soldiers (at least, the ones who are still alive and willing to speak) and built a film of them listening to their old interviews and responding today. And she edits in archival footage of the war. Not the same people who are on the audiotape, but it gives perspective on the differences between what was shown at the time and what was going through the mind of the soldiers. Not surprisingly, the interviews give a pretty solemn, depressing account of war (war is hell, whatever the cause) and it's interesting to hear the realization of when they went from being David to Goliath, and the frustration about being a country that routinely has to fight a war every now and then. No easy solutions, but a solid meditation on the military history of Israel.

Total Running Time: 95 minutes
My Total Minutes: 405,319