The Traitor (2009)

The Traitor (2009)
Haboged (original title)

Director: Tomer Velkoff
Writer: Olga Sitovotsky
Genre: Short movie
Country: Israel
Language: Hebrew (English Subtitles)
Year: 2009
Duration: 14 min

Stars: Shmulik Goldstein and Tomer Velkoff

Tomer and Schmulik have been together for a long time and have a domesticity together where things are settled into a routine. However the silence that initially seems to express that they know each other so well they no longer need to talk, hides the fact one of them is deeply unhappy and announces over dinner that he’s leaving and has rented an apartment. Although it could have done without the obvious metaphor of a storm raging outside, The Traitor does a great job of using very little dialogue to get over its point. It’s all about what we say without speaking and that often what comes out of our mouths is often only the tiniest part of communication. In only 13 minutes it show how our actions conceal and reveal things, and that even what seems like the greatest of intimacy can hide a lot of turmoil. Few films deal with the messy stupidity of break-ups like this, as well as the pain and virtual impossibility of quickly untangling from one another after years together.  You can certainly question the characters’ actions and the ending is perhaps a tad extreme, but it’s powerful, provocative and complex.