Private (film)
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Private
| image = Private (2004 film).jpg
| caption =
| director = Saverio Costanzo
| writer = {{plainlist|
}}
| starring = {{plainlist|
}}
| producer = Mario Gianani
| distributor = Typecast Releasing
| budget =
| released = {{Film date|2004|09|10|Toronto Film Festival|df=y}}
| runtime = 90 minutes
| country = Italy
| language = {{plainlist|
- Arabic
- English
- Hebrew
}}
}}
Private is a 2004 minimalist psychological drama film directed by Saverio Costanzo. A debut film by the director, the film is about a Palestinian family of seven suddenly confronted with a volatile situation in their home that in many ways reflects the larger ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israel.
Initially selected as the official entry from Italy for the foreign language film category at the 78th Academy Awards, Private was disqualified as its main spoken language is not in Italian (a rule that was changed, effective with the next year's Oscars, partly due to this film). The film has received the Golden Leopard award at the 57th Locarno International Film Festival.
Synopsis
Mohammad, his wife and their five children live in a large, isolated house located halfway between a Palestinian village and an Israeli settlement. The house, in the crossfire of the two sides, is a strategic lookout point that the Israeli army decides to seize, confining the family to a few downstairs rooms in daytime and a single room at night. Mohammad refuses to leave this home and, reinforced by his principles against violence, decides to find a way to keep his family together in the house until the Israeli soldiers move on.
Cast
- Mohammad Bakri as Mohammad B
- Lior Miller as Commander Ofer
- Hend Ayoub as Mariam B
- Tomer Russo as Private Eial
- Arin Omary as Samiah B
Reviews
- The Hollywood Reporter: "While the film is ultimately too limited in its scope to have much lingering impact, it does make for a thoughtful addition to the growing list of films dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict"{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001613229 |title=New Movie Reviews & Film Reviews |work=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=10 April 2017}}
- Los Angeles Times: "An appropriately and deliberately gritty, drab-looking and edgy picture" {{cite web|url=http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-private2dec02,0,7437902.story |title=Entertainment News - Los Angeles Times |publisher=Calendarlive.com |access-date=10 April 2017}}
- New York Times: "Midnight raid by Israeli soldiers turns the home of a Palestinian family into an occupied territory in Saverio Constanzo's politically loaded allegory"
- New York Post: "The Palestinian characters are so thinly conceived that they might as well be named Victims One through Seven, and they're far more developed than the Israeli characters."{{cite web|url=http://www.nypost.com/movies/57652.htm |title=New York Post Online Edition: Movies |access-date=12 March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124144347/http://www.nypost.com/movies/57652.htm |archive-date=24 November 2005 }}
- New York Daily News: "Shot with digital cameras, "Private" has a gritty - sometimes grainy - documentary urgency that heightens the inherent tension, keeping viewers unsettled with the notion that a tragedy is always imminent."{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/moviereviews/story/366837p-312094c.html |title=New York Daily News - Movie Reviews - Jack Mathews: Private |website=New York Daily News |access-date=12 March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114054633/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/moviereviews/story/366837p-312094c.html |archive-date=14 November 2006 }}
- L.A. Weekly: "The young Italian director Saverio Costanzo puts an unnervingly intimate twist on the costs of military occupation in this aptly claustrophobic drama."{{cite web|url=http://www.laweekly.com/film/film_results.php?showid%3D3676%26Sumbit.x%3D58%26Sumbit.y%3D15 |title=LA Weekly - HOME - the Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles |access-date=12 March 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930204601/http://www.laweekly.com/film/film_results.php?showid=3676&Sumbit.x=58&Sumbit.y=15 |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}
- The Times: "Saverio Costanzo’s Italian-made film adopts a stripped-down, naturalistic style to capture the tension as the squad leader proves equally fearsome to his men and the father’s angry children begin small acts of rebellion that threaten an uneasy equilibrium. Emotional and rational arguments fuel the occasionally heavy-handed script but the Israeli-Palestinian cast is strong in a film that shows how both sides are victims of violence."{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,18709-1618622,00.html |title=The Times & The Sunday Times |publisher=The Times |date=9 April 1917 |access-date=10 April 2017}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
- Empire: "The script is occasionally heavy-handed in laying out motivation and meaning, but excellent performances from the Israeli-Palestinian cast and a chilling moral elevate this to more than 'issue film' status. "[http://www.empireonline.com/incinemas/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=11135]{{dead link|date=April 2017}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0420090|title=Private}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes|m/private}}
{{Golden Leopard}}
Category:2000s psychological drama films
Category:Italian psychological drama films
Category:Israeli–Palestinian conflict films