Walk on Water (film)
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| Walk on Water | |
|---|---|
 Knut Berger, Caroline Peters and Lior Ashkenazi in Walk on Water |
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| Directed by | Eytan Fox |
| Produced by | Amir Harel |
| Written by | Gal Uchovsky |
| Starring | Lior Ashkenazi Knut Berger Caroline Peters Gideon Shemer Carola Regnier |
| Music by | Ivri Lider |
| Cinematography | Tobias Hochstein |
| Editing by | Yosef Grunfeld |
| Distributed by | Samuel Goldwyn Films LLC (USA theatrical) |
| Release date(s) | March 18, 2004 (Israel) |
| Running time | 103 min |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | English German Hebrew |
| IMDb profile | |
Walk on Water (original Hebrew title: ללכת על המים; English transliteration: Lalekhet Al HaMayim) is an Israeli film released in 2004. It stars Lior Ashkenazi, Knut Berger, and Caroline Peters. It was directed by New York-born Israeli Eytan Fox. The screenplay was written by Gal Uchovsky. Most of the dialogue takes place in English, although there is much in Hebrew and German.
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[edit] Main characters
- Eyal, a Mossad agent (Lior Ashkenazi)
- Axel Himmelman, a young German man (Knut Berger)
- Pia Himmelman, Axel's sister, who lives on an Israeli kibbutz (Caroline Peters)
- Menachem, Eyal's boss (Gideon Shemer)
- Rafik, a young Palestinian man whom Axel 'hooks up' with (Yousef 'Joe' Sweid)
[edit] Release history
Walk on Water premiered on February 5, 2004 at the Berlin International Film Festival. It opened in Israel on March 18, 2004. It was first shown in the United States on October 24, 2004 at the Milwaukee International Film Festival. It opened in limited release in American theatres on March 4, 2005.
[edit] Awards and nominations
[edit] Awards of the Israeli Film Academy (2004)
[edit] Won
- Best Music - Ivri Lider
- Best Music, Original Song - Ivri Lider
- Best Sound - Gil Toren (tie)
[edit] Nominated
- Best Film
- Best Actor - Lior Ashkenazi
- Best Director - Eytan Fox
- Best Screenplay - Gal Uchovsky
- Best Cinematography - Tobias Hochstein
- Best Editing - Yosef Grunfeld
[edit] French's Cesar Awards (2006)
[edit] Nominated
- Best foreign film
[edit] Plot
Eyal is an agent in Mossad, the Israeli security service. He is a hitman who targets enemies of Israel and of the Jews for a living. His wife has recently committed suicide, and the agency decides that he needs to take on a less challenging assignment: to find an aging Nazi war criminal and kill him "before God gets to him".
In order to track down the old man, Eyal poses as a tour guide and befriends the Nazi's adult grandchildren, Axel and Pia. Pia lives on a kibbutz, an Israeli commune. Her brother Axel visits her in order to convince Pia to return to Germany for their father's seventieth birthday.
Although he has a job to perform, Eyal truly befriends Axel and Pia. They spend time together and Eyal enjoys himself, even if he would not openly admit so. His friendship with Axel allows him to display some humanity, letting down his tough-guy machismo. Eyal and Axel even take a mud bath by the Dead Sea, showering off together in the nude afterward.
When the three are at dinner one night in a Tel Aviv restaurant, Axel speaks privately to the Palestinian waiter, Rafik, and finds out where the best club in town is. Later that evening, Axel, Pia, and Eyal arrive at the club. Eyal is shocked to discover that it is a gay club. He sees Axel dancing with Rafik and is taken aback.
Eyal is initially disgusted and disappointed to discover that Axel is gay. He asks to be removed from the assignment, not attempting to hide his homophobia as the reason. His boss insists that Eyal finish the mission. Eyal visits Germany and comes to realize that Axel's orientation is unimportant. Axel and Pia are decent people who demonstrate that most Germans have gotten beyond the hatred that led to the Holocaust. Eyal realizes that hatred based on accidents of birth are counterproductive and he accepts Axel and Pia as Germans and Axel as a homosexual.
[edit] Trivia
Caroline Peters, the actress who played Pia, revealed on Israeli television that her real-life grandfather was a Nazi. [1]
[edit] External links
- www.walkonwatermovie.com—Official site in English (Lama Films and United King Films)
- Walk on Water at the Internet Movie Database
