User Reviews

AMOS OZ – THE NATURE OF DREAMS. Articulate and erudite, Amos Oz is one of the most esteemed of Israeli authors. Oz is also an activist and moral conscience who is a vocal critic of Israeli politics and the continuing occupation of Palestinian territory, a controversial stance. Originally made for television, this documentary follows Oz as he embarks on an international lecture tour that takes him to Berlin, Columbia University in New York and the United Nations. At a swank party in New York, Oz meets his contemporaries Salman Rushdie and Paul Auster, and he even offers Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres some advice on how to respond to an inflammatory Anti-Semitic speech from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. We also see Oz at work in his studio, and conducting interviews over the telephone. This is not so much a portrait of the artist or the creative process as it is a study of a man and the forces that have shaped him and his beliefs. Amos Oz – The Nature Of Dreams is the second film from filmmakers Masha Yur Glozman and Yonathan Yur, whose previous film Magia Russica looked at the development of Russian animation and the transformation of Russian society and culture. The pair gain the trust of Oz, enabling them to gain some intimate insights in his background. The film explores his family life, growing up in Jerusalem in the 1940's, and his life on a kibbutz. Using rare archival footage, the directors also paint a grim picture of what life was like for Jews in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's. It was a time of pogroms and persecution – those that weren't driven out in the 1930's were murdered en masse in the 1940's. But more revealing are the wonderful anecdotes Oz offers up about the process of writing his first novel whilst on a kibbutz. Oz also reads passages from his novel A Tale Of Love And Darkness. However, the documentary is a bit bland, and at times resembles something of a lecture from the author himself. Ultimately, Amos Oz – The Nature Of Dreams is of limited appeal.