Movie Review: Apples from the Desert

Adolescents of all cultures rebel against their parents. Rebellion can mean different things depending on the individual though. Sometimes it means staying out past curfew, ingesting illegal substances, or taking a controversial political stance. However adolescent defiance in Matti Harari and Arik Lubetzki’s film Apples from the Desert takes on a much stronger form, against an entire way of life.

Based on a short story by Savyon Liebrecht, the movie follows Rivka (Moran Rosenblatt), a young Orthodox Jewish woman, who lives with her loving mother and strict father (Reymond Amsalem and Schlomi Koriat) in Jerusalem. Rivka longs for freedom from her parents’ way of life so that she can study art, but her father wants to marry her off as soon as possible. She’s already an outcast her community for her progressive thinking, although she becomes even more distanced from her faith after participating in a dance class when she should be working. There she meets Dubi (Elisha Banai), a handsome college student, who charms her with his liberal lifestyle as a secular Jew.

When Rivka’s father discovers that she’s been skipping work, he tries to control her more by promising her to a much older man. However this backfires because it spurs Rivka to run away with Dubi to his kibbutz in the Israeli countryside. It’s there on the kibbutz that she finds contentment in the freedoms she has among secular Jews. Her transition is a difficult one, but Rivka quickly forges a new, much happier way of life. Meanwhile back in Jerusalem, her parents are in agony since they have no idea where she is. Once they find out her location though, and travel hours to see her in the hope of bringing her home.

Despite its heavy subject matter, Apples from the Desert is a surprisingly bright film. It has a sunny disposition and is filled with lots of light. Watching Rivka undergo explosive conflict with her family is tough, and so is observing her as she tries to navigate how to eat and how to dress now that she isn’t confined by Orthodox standards. Although the intense weight of these proceedings is strategically lessened by the warm lighting and color palettes that the directors employ.

It’s not a spoiler to say that once Rivka’s parents locate her, that they eventually come to accept her new way of life, but not without tremendous apprehension. What makes this aspect of the movie compelling is how natural its lead performances are and how real her parents’ anguish seems. Seeing them modify their beliefs out of love for their daughter is heartwarming and emotionally cathartic for anyone who has ever fought with their parents. One particularly affecting scene on this front involves Dubi chasing down Rivka’s father to talk him into staying on the kibbutz for dinner.

The religious conflict that Rivka experiences with regard to her upbringing is interesting because it’s tied specifically to Jewish culture and to a real clash that exists between these two disparate ways of life in Israel. This particular clash is not one that many viewers around the world are exposed to, which makes it an essential watch, since it breaks down the barriers of understanding most non-Jews have built up around Judaism. By processing Rivka’s experience, these audiences can understand her story and relate to it through the lens of their own struggles with their parents. The way she mends her relationship with them and the way they come to accept her new life is universal in its message: love can conquer all, especially when it comes to family.

✭✭✭✭