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BERLINALE 2005 Panorama

Exile and the world of Radu Mihaileanu

by 

The beautiful film Live and Become [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Denis Carot
interview: Didar Domehri
interview: Radu Mihaileanu
film profile
]
, in competition in Berlin, has received great acclaim so far at public screenings and at the Film Market. It is likely to attract many buyers.

In 1984, thousands of refugees gather in Sudan to avoid starving in their own countries. Amongst them, the Falashas, that is, the Jewish Ethiopians, are brought to Israel. One Ethiopian mother, in order to save her child, gives him to a Jewish woman who has just lost hers. ‘Live and become’ are the last words she tells him. But what is he supposed to become ? The boy’s name is changed into his new mother’s dead child, Salomon. Not only his name but his whole existence is based on a lie, and Salomon lives with the constant fear that his stratagem should be discovered, and that he should be sent again to an almost certain death. He is torn between guilt for betraying his origins , and paranoia for being a usurper.

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Thus, this film, Radu Mihaileanu’s third feature film (after Train de vie ), focuses on the influence of history on the individual destiny of a boy and on the need for him to rebuild an identity. The camera is never intrusive ; it just follows silently the protagonist and lays a poetic and empathetic eye on his pains, his secrets, and his fights. The supporting roles, beautifully directed by the Rumanian director, help weaving this humanistic narrative which is also a patchwork of languages, cultures, and religions. Beautiful epopee with the creation of Israel as a historical background, Live and Become is a tragic version of the universal quest for our origins. It ends on the acceptance of a multiple identity, like a ‘Tower of Babel’, says Mihaileanu.

Live and Become is a European coproduction involving Elzévir Production and Oï oï oï production (Radu Mihaileanu’s company), as well as Cattleya, K2, Transfax, France 3 Cinéma. It was supported by Eurimages, Canal+ , the French CNC, the French Community in Belgium, and the Télédistributeurs Wallons. Films Distribution manages the sales.

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(Translated from French)

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