Campfire

Director: Joseph Cedar

Campfire earned five Israeli Academy Awards, which caused Israel to name it the official selection for consideration in the 2005 Best Foreign Film category of our own Academy Awards. In this winningly heartfelt little gem, widowed matriarch Rachel Gerlik struggles to raise her two teenage daughters and receive acceptance into a new West Bank settlement. However, as the family consists of only a trio of women, without a man looking out for them, the Gerliks have become outcasts in their community and the situation is worsened when something unfortunate befalls the youngest daughter and they are the subject of cruelly erroneous slander and graffiti. Amidst the community preparing for the new settlement, an acquaintance of Rachel’s begins setting her up with eligible men to remedy the lack of a masculine presence in the household and she begins an awkwardly adorable courtship with Yossi, a lonely older virginal, bus driving bachelor. Rachel and Yossi’s scenes together provide the film with some gentle humor and charm and luckily, this remarkable film has finally been released here in the states through filmmovement.com where I can only hope it will gain a new fan base.