Original subtitles

25.000

Yael Abecassis

Uri Klauzner

Hanna Laslo

Ronit Elkabetz

Lupo Berkowitch

Amos Lavie

Liron Levo

Yosef Carmon

Amit Mestechkin

Lyn Hsiao Zamir

in ALILA

based on the novel by Yehoshua Kenaz

"Returning Lost Loves"

Eyali, when you're on leave, come work with me.

You'll get experience. So after the army,

you'll have a job, you'll earn a living.

Right, sonny?

Earn a living... What does that mean?

Forget it, Dad. I already told you...

After the army?

I don't even know how I'll get through it.

Lady, you're in the middle of the road!

Don't worry, son, you'll get through it.

You'll do great, we've all been through it.

I don't know, I hope you're right.

Dad, I love you and Mom.

Sweet boy...

Don't worry, you'll be OK.

You know, for 3 years I ran around

with a 5 gallon jerry-can on my back.

It'll toughen you up, it'll make a man of you, Eyali.

I don't know what to say.

You think that does good?

Ambushes, lying in the mud?

Sleeping outdoors?

Why did you want me to join a combat unit?

Huh, Dad? Why did you insist?

How can I put it?

Some day, you'll understand.

I can't explain, but some day you'll go abroad,

and even if you're having fun,

it'll feel alien to you, you'll miss this language,

these streets, these smells, this whole mess.

It's our country, Eyali.

I can't explain it.

Watch how your father does business.

See those Chinese, over there? You see them?

Those guys?

Yes. You'll see how I operate,

how I get their price down.

Work?

Yes, yes.

What work?

Building? Masonry? Painting?

Yes, yes.

- Know how to do? - How much?

100 shekels per day. Cash.

No, no.

Why not?

What's going on here?

Dad, I have to leave.

- What's the problem? - Can I see the permits?

What do you mean? What permits?

Their work permits.

They left them at home. I don't understand what...

- No permits, no work. - Eyali!

Is there a problem?

If they have permits, none.

They have them! They already worked for me.

Come on.

Come along. I pay well. 250, OK?

250, is that OK?

I'll bring you back here after work. Let's go.

Screenplay by Marie-José Sanselme and me, Amos Gitai

Photography Renato Berta

It's not far.

Editing Kobi Netanel and Monica Coleman

Sound Daniel Ollivier,

Alex Claude and Gérard Lamps

You do everything? Building? Painting?

- Soldering? - Yes.

I'm Ezra.

Casting llan Moskovitch

Line Producer Shuki Friedman

Costumes Laura Shein

Continuity Sari Amir

Set design Miguel Markin

Production Laurent Truchot and Michael Tapuach

Producer Michel Propper

And the director is me, Amos Gitai

Have a nice screening

See you

We use this.

We make building.

With trowels.

Then, painting.

What's up?

Yeah.

No. She gave me her number,

she said we'd talk later, then she split.

Of course she came to screw.

No. She stood me up.

She came by two days later.

Just to give me a hard-on, and split.

Anyway, she calls and says what'll we do?

In the disco, I was sure we were going to screw.

We kissed, felt each other up, all that...

Then I said to her: Let's play backgammon.

Yes.

She shows up...

First she beats me, then I get even.

I promise you.

No, later.

Then she says yes, no, yes, no...

Next she says: Listen, you're a nice guy,

I don't want to put you on, I'm going home.

She split.

The chick's twenty.

I go to a disco, the one where they give massages,

and I ask the girl: Can I have one?

She makes me lie down, massages me, then whispers:

Let's do it at your place?

Then she says she has to leave.

In fact, she wasn't even a masseuse.

I don't like that. See you tomorrow, period.

She saw a girlfriend home.

She treated me like shit.

Someone's here, call you later.

No, the biggest drag was I lost at backgammon!

Know any apartments around here?

Got a light?

Can I trust you?

Yes.

I'm looking for a pad around here.

No problem.

I can solve that.

None of that! No contract, nothing.

My word's my bond, OK? How much?

- How many rooms? - Just one.

One room? A studio...

I've got a nice place on Rothschild.

Rent that one to Yacov.

- Who's he? - My brother. We look alike, right?

For sure!

I need a place around here.

Here?

I've got a place on the parking lot.

Small, not bad, in a renovated warehouse.

That interest you?

Sounds fine.

I pay cash in advance.

Not a word to anyone. Got it?

You'll be alone or with...

You ask too many questions, pal!

- OK, I didn't say a thing. - It's not your business!

Seven, eight...

It's not counterfeit, I hope?

Do I look like a forger? How dare you!

It's cool.

For you.

You go up the stairs, first building on the right,

right again after the corridor. It's the white door.

OK?

The key.

- Want me to show you? - No need.

Have fun.

Why don't you answer?

- You live here? - No.

- But you come often. - I have a friend here.

And you do the shopping?

- You a cop? - No, just chatting.

I'm shopping for a sick friend.

I have the key. She's bedridden.

Can I help you?

No, thanks. It's not heavy.

Pay your maintenance, lady!

Maintenance!

What'll you do about it?

I'll pay you.

What's going on in there?

Can't you screw silently? Stop it. Shut up.

What is this? In daytime!

It's not normal! The whole building can hear!

I'm fine.

Everything's fine.

I'll complain to the building committee!

They'll think someone's being tortured to death!

Next time, I'll scream silently, I promise.

Wait ten minutes before you leave. Got that?

These red shoes...

Got them with higher heels?

I'm sure we do.

Gabi!

You're late.

Try on the boots.

You have them? Great!

Were you with him?

I just don't know how your affair will end.

- Help me. - I don't like it.

- Scares me. - Everything does.

Me, scared? I'm worried for you, dummy.

I don't know what's happening to you now.

You can't stand anyone.

You're here, but your head's elsewhere.

One can't tell you a thing.

Gonna be like that for long?

Don't worry, I can keep a secret.

I feel like I'm cheating on him now.

Like them?

They're pretty.

Got them with higher heels?

Even higher?

Where'll you wear them?

In bed!

You kill me. I don't get it. You have to hide to see him.

You can't even call him.

You have to lie, to hide,

he can't go out with you. What does it mean?

I don't know.

I don't know. He's protecting himself.

From what? From whom?

If you ask me, one of you will flip out.

- Think it'll be him? - Yes.

So what?

Even if he left, Mali, it wouldn't change my life.

It's a few hours per week.

I don't understand. You love him or not?

I don't know him.

What?

I only see him in bed.

Is it that good?

Not bad.

That's all? Nothing more?

Nothing more.

So he makes the rules,

it's when he wants, and how he wants.

You enjoy being a whore, a mistress?

It excites me, Mali.

It's complex, this obsession with secrecy, it's like...

two secret agents on enemy soil.

I don't know why he's so afraid, but it's...

like a war. As if I was fighting...

Against whom?

Against him.

But what for?

So he risks everything for me.

What's everything, Gabi?

Everything he's afraid to lose.

And if you win, you want to live with him?

What are you trying to prove?

That I'm capable of it.

Want my opinion?

You're kidding yourself. You're stuck on him.

If I were you, I'd run away before it's too late.

It's already too late.

This is so perverse.

You can choose any guy you want,

find one that's normal, and not just in bed.

And sell out, like you?

Right, pick on me now.

Because I'm telling you the truth.

Now you'll hate me.

How can you say that?

My Gabi...

Pay for me.

Mali?

What?

- I have talk to you. - Now what, Ezra?

- The army called? - No, they didn't.

Even in my worse nightmares, I hadn't imagined this.

Don't make a big deal of it. Our son will be judged,

he'll go to prison. OK.

But if he was able to run away

without getting caught, what kind of an army is it?

If he contacts us, we have to call the military police.

No way, Ezra.

- Hi, darling. - What's up?

First kiss me, then I'll tell you.

You got what I wanted?

- I got everything. - Thanks, love.

Why's this pest just standing there!

Since his first leave, he barricaded himself inside.

- Can't you see, he's got problems! - What's the point of repeating it!

Our son's going through a crisis, got it?

But he'll get over it. He'll come out OK.

Trust him.

What if he's in danger?

Same old disaster scenarios!

Don't worry. The army will find him.

In a day or two, we'll know.

First, stop bugging me!

Your divorce wrecked everything.

Sure, it's all my fault. What about you?

It was our divorce!

Ours, Ezra!

Ezra!

Forget it. She has her period.

- OK. - What's OK?

Now where you going?

Shopping.

Shopping, again. Do me a favor, open your eyes.

Go find my son Eyali.

Why should he do it? It's my job to find him.

Guess! You screw up everything, Ezra.

You live in your car like a bum.

Even this job on the site,

I found it for you, and you're lousy at it.

You deliver late. Don't pout!

I wonder how I stood it for so long,

I wasted my life with you!

Don't glare at me!

It doesn't work anymore!

Llan, go look for the kid, OK?

Wipe that hangdog look off your face.

Go look for your kid. Look for him together!

What's up?

I expected you.

Don't want to go back to the army?

I don't know.

When will you go back?

Not sick of crawling around like a stray cat?

Don't dare tell your parents?

Is that it?

I don't know.

I told them, but they don't understand.

You told your dad you don't want to enlist?

If you'd rather not discuss it, we won't.

You didn't come here for nothing.

Are my questions bothering you?

See what's going on around you?

I don't give a fuck.

Me, too...

I take fucking seriously.

Would you like...

to see your parents, and still go back to the army?

Maybe they'll forget me.

The army doesn't forget its soldiers easily!

Drink your carrot juice and keep me posted.

Chin up!

Ezra, she's calling you. Come with me.

- Enough! - Go check the roof.

Be quiet, it's unbearable.

It's siesta time. Time for resting.

It's impossible with all this noise.

Then go lie down, and never get up again!

They're all against us. What did we do to them?

You're building a house here.

Where else would we live?

You were just supposed to close the parking lot, no?

OK, we'll close one side and open the other.

Let me show you.

Come. Why all the noise?

Here, come along.

All day and all night, give us a break!

There. We closed this side,

we'll open the other. That's all.

What's all this crap?

What's the difference?

You don't want us?

What are we to you? Arabs? Is it that?

Thieves, I tell you.

You stole land that isn't yours.

It's an illegal building site.

- Not true. - You don't have a permit.

It'll be demolished. You'll see.

What?

Who'll demolish what? Nobody'll demolish anything.

Put your fists down, I said.

Nobody. They're all with us. The police, city hall, everyone!

Know who you're dealing with?

If this goes on I know people, who for 50 bucks,

will remodel your face with acid.

That what you want? Get the hell out.

You hear what she said?

That's our neighbours!

Enough! Fuck off.

Remember that, you'll repeat it in court.

Nothing short of a murder will make the police move their asses.

Say, you look like a decent person,

someone with brains.

Our daughter wants to study after the army.

She deserves to live with people like you, no?

He's talking crap.

Why crap? I tell you, it's for our daughter.

- Forget it. - Why is it crap?

They dig holes all over the neighborhood.

They buy up basements and turn them into apartments.

Just to make money. It's business.

It's for our daughter.

Sure!

It's just business!

Ezra, can't you see I'm talking?

Right, sweetheart, business.

We'll build apartments in every hole.

Under the earth, on the roofs.

And we'll put 7 foot Arabs in them,

no girl will be able to live here.

Is that that you want? You'll all leave!

My treasure.

Here she comes again. Go on!

Don't call me "treasure".

Why do you get so mad?

- That's how it is. - Why are you so edgy?

- Go on, get off my back. - OK, I'm coming.

Wait.

You paid the maintenance?

You spoke to Schwartz?

I told you not to speak to anyone.

- It's impossible. - I told you, no one.

Want me to come in through the window?

You provoking me? It's none of your business.

None of my business? I don't exist, that it?

Just do what I say.

Hush!

They'll hear.

Still at it, huh?

Your wife spotted us, right?

Don't talk about that.

Then about what?

Shit, why talk all the time?

True. All I want is your body.

I like it when you talk that way.

I hope it lasts.

It'll last the time it lasts, Gabi.

You accepted my conditions.

If you don't like it, you can leave.

I won't come back for a while.

You want to punish me?

Do what I tell you, even if you don't understand.

I know...

You don't love me any more.

That's how it goes.

There you go again.

You're like a kid.

If I didn't love you,

I wouldn't come here.

And if I was pretending,

you'd notice at once.

Your body would tell me?

Precisely.

Caress me some more.

Linda.

Why's it never clean here?

Don't you know how to clean?

Then close the shutters. I can't stand all this noise.

It reminds me of the camps.

Aviram, come look.

I want you to come look.

Day and night, they work like that.

They're doing the toilets and the bathroom.

What can we do?

These people listen to loud Arab music,

all night long.

They roast sausages under our windows.

So what?

I want you to come look.

I want a witness for the lawsuit.

Not now. I'm busy.

So it's up to Schwartz again.

A sick, old man.

The shouts, the screams...

Then they drag people out of the barracks.

The shouts, the screams, day and night...

Then they take off their clothes...

The shouts, the screams...

They push them into the showers...

Hello, sir.

How are you?

Can you talk?

Say something.

One, two, three, up!

Raise your arms, if you can.

Lie down.

You seem in a bad mood.

No, I'm not.

So...?

What have you done all this time?

I lived.

Just like when I'm with you.

You see?

Life without Hezi is possible.

Of course.

But with him it's better.

You seem in a very good mood.

What have you done all this time?

I thought about you.

Sure...

Don't you believe me?

You think about me now and then,

until you get sick of it.

What am I to you?

Don't be silly.

I have lots of plans for us.

Don't I have the right to know them?

It's hot in here.

I want the door permanently closed.

Why are you looking at me?

You surprised me.

- I didn't expect to see you. - I can leave if you want.

- Did you come to fight? - No.

I came to love you.

- Why are you angry? - Why are you looking at me?

How am I looking at you?

You're undressing me with your eyes.

I always see you naked. Why should I undress you?

You know very well what I mean.

Let's stop this game.

You didn't come.

Doesn't matter.

Yes, it does.

That dog!

It never stops barking. Drives me nuts.

It was always there, never disturbed you before.

No one must see us together.

I want that door to stay closed.

I have to go.

You and your llan.

Can't he confide in me?

Don't I have a right to know? It all has to go through llan?

Want me to tell you?

Don't blame me, Eyali went to see llan.

Get it? Maybe he's scared to talk to you, Ezra.

Sure, he's scared!

Maybe you missed something?

- It's my fault, huh? - Why else would he go to see llan?

See how you drive?

Now what is it?

Now what?

Ezra, what is it?

Get out!

I don't believe it.

Go on, scram.

Cut it out, there's no point...

Go see your beautician. Scram!

- OK, Ezra. - I'll take care of it.

I'll go get him by myself.

You'll be late! Watch out for your nail polish!

Spoiled brat!

Go on, get lost!

You're wrong, and you know it!

He won't talk to me! I'm the spoiled brat!

It's all my fault!

At his age, I worked! I got a paycheck!

I was in the army, and I fed my father!

Spoiled brat! Do what you want!

Where's the moped? Where's llan?

Where's your Vespa?

Hurry, go see your rabbi! Run!

He'll tell you!

Did I teach him there were no limits?

Did I teach him that anything goes?

You can desert! Don't do your army service!

Shirk your responsibilities! Anything goes!

- You're crazy! - Anything goes, huh?

Did I raise him that way?

Why did we give birth to him? For nothing? Anything goes!

It's 5.30 PM, time for the evening news.

The legal committee will meet tomorrow in the Knesset to ratify

the elections being moved forward to next January 28.

4.7 million Israelis are due to vote.

The Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Finance

want to postpone the municipal elections to 2004.

Last week,

the Labour Party decided to pull out of the national unity government.

Yesterday, we all heard

the leader of the National Union Party

who stated that...

Hey, lady!

What's wrong with you? You won't speak to me?

What's with all of you?

Are we Arabs, or what?

I'd like to invite you in for coffee!

Come see my lovely home!

Where are you going with that trash bag?

I want to show you something!

You look nice, wait.

Listen, my lovely, I'm a sick woman,

I have brain cancer, you know?

Soon, my head's being operated. Look!

Why do you create problems for us?

Lady, where are you going? Listen, I have a daughter...

What's wrong with you? Just looking at you, I can tell,

you know nothing about children!

You're not even married, huh?

You live alone here, like a bitch in heat?

What are you, a dyke?

You'll never cradle a baby in your arms.

Never!

What's the old guy's name? I wanna talk to him!

I don't know.

She doesn't know.

Come on, come on out!

It's us, your new neighbors! Come out!

We want to talk to you.

Soon, you'll be homeless!

I know a woman, for 100 dollars:

She'll set fire to this place!

Old man, come out or you're dead!

Gabi?

Recognize me?

Mali! You have a new lover?

How do I look?

Let's see, turn around.

You like it?

It's terrific, but why did you do it?

Last time, I felt pathetic beside you.

Did you do that for me?

- Ridiculous, huh? - No.

Then why are you laughing?

It's terrific, I just have to get used to it.

You should've done it sooner.

- Saying that to please me? - No!

Mali, stop it.

I always feel guilty with you.

- What's going on? - That's him.

- Where? - Behind us.

Keep talking, if he comes over, we don't know him.

What'll we talk about?

Shall we move?

- No. How's Ezra? - Lousy.

- Shall we move? - No.

It's OK. He's gone.

You're ashamed for me.

What's happening to you? You have to stop it.

What's going on? It's not like you.

I don't know if I'm all right, or not...

It's an obsession. All I want is him.

I want him. All the time.

I obey him, he can do what he wants with me.

Sometimes he says he loves me, so I stay in there.

You're lucky you don't live there.

Why do you say that?

Because it reminds me of a movie.

It was called Back Street:

A girl falls in love with her boss,

he buys her an apartment in a back street,

to come visit her. One day he stops coming.

And she spends her life waiting

for him to come back,

alone in the apartment, in that dead end.

- Why bring that up? - I forgot the ending, not the pain.

I never saw that movie.

Odd that he was here.

What did you think of him?

Old.

He's not old at all.

It's because he's bald.

He's your age.

- My age? - Yes.

OK, so he is.

Come on, let's leave.

This place is awful. I don't like it here.

He may come back. Let's go.

Come on, Gabi.

Come on.

You coming?

This outfit suits us, no?

Fu, get up!

You should've woken me up sooner.

I told you to wake me up.

Come on!

You take Chin and Fa and do the plumbing.

You, no more plastering, understand?

OK? He continues with the wall.

- Who is it? - Zaada family?

Yes, Zaada family.

Open up.

- Who is it? - Police.

Police?

One moment.

- What is it? - It's about your son, Eyal.

- Her son. - He's my son.

Can I come in?

Wait, Ezra. Let's all go outside.

Come, let's go out.

Has something happened to him?

No.

Then why are you here?

You been in contact with him lately?

Are you in his unit?

What unit?

When were you last in contact?

Ezra knows that.

OK, thanks.

I forget, it was a while ago.

Has he tried to contact you or not?

He called to say he was fine.

You should've told us.

You must tell us everything.

It all matters, even the smallest detail!

If you don't do it, you're accomplices. Got that?

- We hardly spoke to him. - OK!

- Where did he call from? - What do you want to know?

Sorry, who are you?

Come back to see me, we have to talk, OK?

- Who's he? - A family friend.

Does he have a girlfriend, any pals?

No, no one.

No one.

Good, if he calls or you have news, call us. Got that?

- His life's at stake. - Why?

He's bumming around, a perfect target for terrorists.

Why didn't you look for him sooner?

Mr. Zaada, we've never stopped looking for him.

But we can't tell you everything.

- Right. - Yes.

As long as he's in the army,

and serving his sentence, he's our responsibility.

Take it easy.