Walk on Water (2004)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Eytan Fox

Writer:

Gal Uchovsky (writer)

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

He was trained to hate until he met the enemy

Plot:

Following the suicide of his wife, an Israeli intelligence agent is assigned to befriend the grandchildren of a Nazi war criminal.

Plot Keywords:

Tourist | Mossad | Suicide | Nazi | Israel

Awards:

3 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Lior Ashkenazi	...	Eyal
Knut Berger	...	Axel Himmelman
Caroline Peters	...	Pia Himmelman
Gideon Shemer	...	Menachem
Carola Regnier	...	Axel's Mother
Hanns Zischler	...	Axel's Father
Ernest Lenart	...	Alfred Himmelman
Eyal Rozales	...	Jello
Yousef 'Joe' Sweid	...	Rafik
Imad Jabarin	...	Rafik's uncle
Sivan Sasson	...	Weapons Instructor
Natali Shilman	...	Iris (as Nataly Szylman)
Hugo Yarden	...	Kibbuz Director
Joshua Simon	...	Kibbuz Singer
Tom Rahav	...	Kibbuz Singer

Also Known As:

LaLehet Al HaMayim (Israel: Hebrew title) (working title)
To Walk on Water (Israel: English title) (working title)
Walking on Water (Israel: English title) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some language including sexual references, and for brief nudity.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Israel | Sweden

Language:

English | German | Hebrew | Italian | Turkish | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Unrated | USA:R | UK:15 | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Fond Européen Média

Trivia:

Caroline Peters, who plays Pia, revealed in an interview on Israeli television that her actual grandfather was a Nazi, just like her character's grandfather in the film

Goofs:

Continuity: In both times when Eyal goes to the shooting range, his hits change places on targets once targets are pulled to the shooter position.

Quotes:

Axel Himmelman: [tries to walk on the sea and falls in]
Eyal: [sarcastically] Bravo. You did it.
Axel Himmelman: You don't understand. You can't just come to the Sea of Galilee and start walking on water. If you could, everybody would be doing it. You need to prepare yourself.
Eyal: And how would you do that? Please enlighten me.
Axel Himmelman: Well, you need to completely purify yourself. Your heart needs to be like it's clean from the inside: no negativity, no bad thoughts.
Eyal: And then?
Axel Himmelman: And then you can walk on water. I'm sure of it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 2005 Glitter Awards (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

nashki oti

A crisis of conscience

Eyal is a Mossad agent who specializes in terminating those that his agency deems enemies. Upon returning from a mission in Istanbul, he finds that his wife has committed suicide. Until he has been evaluated by a therapist Eyal cannot return to his regular field assignments and is given the task of getting close to the grandchildren of one of the last surviving Nazi war criminals in hopes of finding out where the old man is. The old man has recently disappeared, the man's son is nearing his 70th birthday and his grandson is coming to Israel to visit his kibbutznik sister.

Eyan poses as a tour guide and is quickly accepted by the Axel, the grandson and Pia his sister. Eyan spends most of his time with the charming, spontaneous and open Axel but starts forming a friendship with both grandchildren.

Between his emotions over the death of his wife and his growing feelings for the two grandchildren Eyan has a crisis of conscience. Can he violate the trust the two have placed in him? Can he kill again?

Overall this is a well written; many faceted story, remarkably well told. I personally didn't care for the ending but I can't explain too much without giving away what happens.