Jew Central- Jewish News for Jewish Professionals - “For My Father”

What would you do in order to clear your family’s name? How far would you go? What would you do if you changed your mind? These are just some of the questions that Terek, a young Palestinian man, must confront in the film “For My Father.”

“For My Father,” directed by Dror Zahavi, is an interesting and absorbing character driven film set against the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Terek, the main character in the film, is a Palestinian, who at the onset of the film has decided to clear his family’s name by volunteering to become a suicide bomber. Terek’s objective is to detonate himself in a Tel Aviv market during a Friday afternoon. If he cannot do it, then the bomb can be detonated by a remote from his mission planner. However, thanks to a faulty trigger, Terek cannot complete his task. Instead, he wanders through Tel Aviv until he finds a small repair shop owned by an older Jewish man named Katz. Terek manages to get Katz to order a replacement part. However, the part will not be delivered until Sunday. Terek manages to convince his mission planner to wait to detonate the bomb until the part arrives.

Terek ends up spending the Sabbath, Saturday night, and Sunday morning in the company of Katz, Katz’s wife Shlomi, and Keren, the 17 year old Jewish Israeli girl who owns a small kiosk across the street from Katz’s shop. Through his interactions with these three characters, Terek finds a new sense of life and questions the path he has taken. Ultimately, however, time runs out and he must confront his original decision.

What makes “For My Father” an intriguing film is the way that Dror Zahavi manages to make the audience feel compassion for Terek without taking sides in the politics of the region. Terek is no ordinary suicide bomber. He had a bright promising career as a soccer player that was put on hold due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Due to the conflict, restrictions of traveling throughout Israel, and the price his father paid for trying to continue his son’s soccer career, Terek deemed his life to be over and hates all Jews. However, through his brief interaction with Katz, Shlomi, and Keren, he manages to slowly open up his mind. In fact, all four characters are dealing with loss and all four manage to find a glimmer of hope through their interactions with each other. They treat each other as one human being to another and try to help each other out in any small way.

“For My Father” is well written, directed, acted, and produced. It was nominated for seven Israeli Academy Awards and has placed in a number of American film festivals. It is currently playing in New York City and will be released in the summer on DVD.

About the Author
Sandy Chertok currently has two short films, which she produced and wrote, circulating on the film festival circuit - the coming of age drama "It's All Relative" and the action packed "Winter Solstice." Besides production, Sandy has received numerous accolades for her writing including: finalist in the Chesterfield Writer's Project Fellowship, finalist in the NBC sponsored Writer's Foundation America's Best Original Sitcom Competition for her pilot "For Pete's Sake," and quarterfinalists in the Cinestory and Austin Film Festival's Screenplay Competitions. She received her BFA with honors from New York University. Sandy is currently developing the feature film 'Babyon Knights' which already has a number of attachments to it. For more information, you can contact Sandy at cinemaprods@yahoo.com