
Overview
In 1973, on the Jewish high holy day of Yom Kippur, the Arab nations launched a massive military assault on the state of Israel. KIPPUR follows the paths of two Israeli soldiers as they face the chaos and carnage of battle. Weinraub (Leron Levo) is a sensitive, artistic sort. He quotes Herbert Marcuse to his friend, Ruso (Tomer Ruso), who is much more gung-ho, as they head off to battle. In the pandemonium at the front, the two fail to find their unit, and end up joining an airborne rescue unit. Amos Gitai avoids all sentimentality and sensation. He doesn't dwell on the politics of the war. His focus is on the men who experience the ugliness and tedium of battle and the effect this experience has on them. As the film gets deep down in the mud, literally, with these soldiers, we get a close-up look at the aftermath of the violence. These are stoic men, who never question the necessity of what they do. The actors deliver straightforward performances that enhance the realistic power of the film. Gitai is perhaps the world's best-known Israeli filmmaker, and KIPPUR is an excellent example of his intimately scaled, uncompromisingly honest work.
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
Amos Gitai - Director
Juliano Mer Khamis
Uri Ran Klauzner
Liron Levo
Tomer Ruso
Yoram Hattab
Guy Amir
Ran Kauchinsky
Kobi Livne
Liat Lick Levo
Tomer Russo
Details
- Format: DVD
- Run Time: 123
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 738329021320
- Genre: FOREIGN FILM [DUB OR SUBTITLE]
- Rating: Not Rated
- Release Date: August 2001

Movie Reviews
Notes:
Theatrical release: November 2, 2000
The film was shot on location in the Golan Heights.
Amos Gitai, the director, lived in exile for over ten years because an early documentary of his, FIELD DIARY (1982), shot during the invasion of Lebanon, created tremendous controversy.
Amos Gitai also directed BRAND NEW DAY (1987) a concert documentary on the Eurhythmics.
Director of Photography Renato Berta has shot films for many well-known directors, including Louis Malle, Jean-Luc Godard, and Alain Tanner.
The film is dedicated to director Sam Fuller, among others.
Reviews:
"...Intense....Middle East tensions add urgency to this stark study in the unglorious matter-of-factness of battle...." -- Rating: B+ - 11/17/2000 Entertainment Weekly, p.90
"...KIPPUR is a classic war film, at once elegiac and immediate....KIPPUR is one of those handful of films that makes you feel what war is really like..." - 12/01/2000 Los Angeles Times, p.C12
"Gitai captures the squalor and surrealism of the war, and there is a strangely introspective and dreamlike quality to his film-making." - 05/01/2010 Sight and Sound