Free Zone (2005)

Rating: * * 1/2 (Out of 5)

I saw this film in France, which means that I had to read French subtitles for the Hebrew and Arabic portions of the film. Fortunately, most of the film was in English.

The opening of Amos Gitai's film has nothing but a close-up of Natalie Portman crying against a Hebrew song about animals brutally killing other animals... for almost 10mins straight! The point would soon become obvious and it was a powerful scene. The three women represent three different countries' roles in the middle east. However, even with some interesting (and rather old school) visual maniuplating, the film does not have enough substance to fully build on the opening 10 mins. The metaphor wears thin after a while, and it becomes a fairly stolid road movie.