Romance blooms between two soldiers (Knoller, Levi) stationed in an Israeli outpost on the Lebanese border.
The moving Yossi & Jagger, at 65 minutes in length, has the focused impact and emotional clarity of a fine short story. A multiple award winner (among other prizes, Yossi & Jagger took a Best Actor honor for Ohad Knoller at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival), this unusual love tale, set on a snowy Israeli-Lebanese border facing possible Hezbollah incursions, has an unexpected sweetness and buoyancy. Knoller plays square-jawed, no-nonsense Yossi, company commander of an Israeli Defense Forces unit exhausted from sleepless nights anticipating an ambush. The handsome, fun-loving Jagger (Yehuda Levi), nicknamed for his rock-star appeal, is platoon leader and, unknown to all, Yossi’s secret lover. The two arrange trysts by going off together on missions, and while Jagger begs Yossi to leave the army when the former’s service is up, Yossi reminds him that real life is not a romantic movie. Meanwhile, the platoon’s other characters and a trio of visitors–a colonel (Sharon Reginiano) and his two female soldier-companions (Hani Furstenberg, Aya Koren)–prove to be a lot of fun sorting out everything from menus to love lives before their next, possibly lethal mission. Director Eytan Fox’s naturalistic touch, and ability to highlight the expansiveness of mature love even in the most tragic and ironic of circumstances, is something to marvel at. –Tom Keogh (from amazon.com)
“Yossi and Jagger” compounds the hell of war with the agony of having to keep one’s sexuality a secret. The movie is also surprisingly lighthearted, thanks to Israeli director Eytan Fox’s deft touch with comedy and old- fashioned romance.
Based on a true story and written for the screen by Avner Bernheimer, “Yossi and Jagger” captures the camaraderie and nervous energy of young soldiers at war. At a snowy outpost on the Israel-Lebanon border, the quarters are cramped, danger lurks around every corner, and sexual high jinks and general silliness take precedence over preparing for battle.
Spirits run high despite the troops’ exhaustion. “It’s biological warfare! ” an army cook cries upon discovering the food in the camp fridge has spoiled. Two soldiers, crouched and ready to take on the enemy, kill time with a game of “who’s better”: “Popeye or Brutus?” “Michelle Pfeiffer or Sharon Stone?”
Secret lovers Yossi and Jagger (Ohad Knoller and Yehudi Levi), desperate for time alone, embark on a “mission” into the wilderness, and director Fox exploits the winter backdrop for a lustrous, truly romantic love scene. Much of the scene’s power comes from seeing Knoller’s Yossi, the butch company commander, melt in the presence of his beau. Yossi’s affectionate glances turn to flickers of shame once the pair are back at camp, in front of others.
Levi brings an impish charm to Jagger, but the character (nicknamed after the rock star) is more described than he is played. His fellow soldiers talk about how great he is, but he doesn’t talk much himself, and when he does, it’s mostly to berate Yossi about being closeted. Levi is a big soap star in Israel, so maybe his character’s charms could be assumed when the film played in his home country.
Another soldier fancies a female colleague, but she’s got a big crush on Jagger. Assi Cohen makes palpable this fellow’s sexual frustration and his anger at having to compete with “sensitive” Jagger. The Betty Grable of the outfit, a saucy radio operator named Goldie, is shtupping the unit’s married colonel — an affair conducted practically in the open. Illicit heterosexuality, apparently, is far preferable to committed homosexuality in the Israeli military.
— Advisory: This film contains raw language, violence, sexual situations.
— Carla Meyer
