Opening 6 Apr 2006
Directed by:
Radu Mihaileanu
Writing credits:
Alain-Michel Blanc, Radu Mihaileanu
Principal actors:
Yaël Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Moshe Abebe, Sirak M. Sabahat
This film opens with a bird’s eye view of an international refugee camp in Sudan in the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands of people, including Christians, Moslems and Jews, had found their way there due to a long, devastating famine. In 1984 the secret Operation Moses airlift, with the help of the United States and Israel, transported thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. This is the story of a Christian boy, Shlomo, whose mother sends him to Israel disguised as the son of a Jewish woman who has lost her own boy. Once there, this adopted mother unfortunately dies, leaving him both an orphan and a Jew; he finds neither role easy to accept or understand. A third woman takes him under her wing. Director Radu Mihaileanu wanted to break down stereotypes of societies and tried to emphasize individuals as their destinies crossed. He could relate to his own past as a Romanian in France, where he changed his name to make it more difficult for prejudiced people to stereotype him before knowing him. Live and Become received the Panorama audience prize at the 2005 Berlinale. It is a moving story in which three women make a difference in a child’s existence. Three actors were chosen to represent Shlomo at different stages in his life; they had to be able to speak three languages and work closely together in order to copy each other’s unique characteristics. (Shelly Schoeneshoefer)
