Or (Keren Yedaya, 2004): France, Israel

Reviewed by Richard Feilden.  Viewed on DVD.

When you spend your life fighting monsters, or so the saying goes, you should be careful to ensure that you do not become one.  Or (2004), an Israeli drama from director Keren Yedaya, looks at the danger that lies in protecting one.  It is a wonderful, terrible tale that deserves a wider audience.

The title comes from the name of the lead character.  Or (Dana Igvy) is a schoolgirl whose mother ,Ruthie (Ronit Elkabetz), is a prostitute.  Or divides her time between her many jobs, such as collecting plastic bottles for recycling and cleaning dishes at a local resturant for food), her school, and the boys.  But her primary concern is keeping her mother from returning to the streets.  Some event in the past, to which we are not privy, hospitalized Ruthie, but she is determined to return to work.  As her mother fights to get back on the game, Or takes more and more desperate measures to protect her.

The story then is very simple.  The film does not rely on convoluted twists or exciting set-pieces to keep the audience’s attention.  That job is left to the two leads.  Elkabetz, as Ruthie, staggers through the film as though in a stupor.  All her glamour is lost as, like a junkie is desperate need of another fix, she sacrifices her health to gain the tatters of self respect she finds in the money and attention that prostitution brings.  The film is no Pretty Woman – here Elkabetz beauty is lost to a world of lurid makeup over pallid skin and cheap nylon underwear over bruised flesh.   Ruthie’s gracelessness never vanishes completely, even in scenes where she forgets about the streets for a little while, becoming instead child like, making the shifting of roles between mother and daughter all the more apparent.

And what of that daughter?   Igvy, only 22 when the film was made,  is spell binding.  There are no editing tricks here to hide any flaws in the performance of the young actress.  Yedaya is a fan of the long, take, often leaving us to simply watch Or’s face, as we try to spot a glimpse the wonderfully carefree, innocent child that we saw at the start of the film.  If she gets the opportunities, this actress is destined for great things.

The film is certainly not for everyone.  It shares the head-on directness of last years Four Months, Three Weeks, Two Days, though not the films grim, eastern European palette.  It also featured frequent scenes of nudity, mainly featuring Ruthie and Or together, rather than with clients.  These could have felt exploitative and unnecessary, but each seemed to add to their vulnerability.  They also bring the viewer uncomfortably close to the perspective of those clients, paying money to gain access to these women naked.  They were not there to titillate, but to sadden or to sicken.

In my opinion this film is the perfect antidote to the vastly overrated (although also featuring an amazing lead -performance) Frozen River.  This is the unsentimental vision of what women will do for their family that that film wishes it could be.  Do yourself a favor – forgo a trip to the theater to see that film (you can find my review here if you want to see why you should save yourself the money) and rent Or instead.