Esther

The Book of Esther in the Old Testament tells the story of a Jewish orphan who marries the Persian King Xerxes I. When Esther learns of the plan to kill all the Jews in the empire, she not only succeeds in preventing the murder, but even manages to destroy the enemies of the Jewish people. The Jewish festival of Purim is celebrated in memory of this story. Amos Gitai interprets it as a metaphor to describe the political situation in Israel and creates a stylized cinematic experiment that reinterprets history as a theatrical performance. The violence of the biblical narrative mirrors contemporary violence: at a decisive metafictional turning point, the actors step out of the narrative - both metaphorically and literally, by leaving the film set - and tell their personal stories directly to the camera. The juxtaposition of past and present, of staging and reality, reveals disturbing similarities. (Jurij Meden)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum