This movie is full of characters and incidents, almost as if the writers felt they might never have the chance to write again, but I think that consistently it is about people trying to repair their wounded pride. The two immigrant communities involved-- assigned housing not in the center of Israel nor yet in Eilat (the road sign says it's 170 kilometers to Eilat) but in a tiny desert town-- have different native languages but they share a resentment at having come down in the world from their pre-emigrant lives and seeing no way back. The men resent their factory jobs and ultimately strike against their employer. Some of the women resent their lack of opportunity and try to prove their worth by taking lovers. The story is set in the 1960s and includes occasional narration from the point of view of the present, making it a sort of "Our Town" or "I Remember Mama" saluting the loved ones of the past-- as if everything were different now, although in today's society too the argument could still be made that geography is destiny.
Review of Turn Left at the End of the World
