Abstract
Defined by an ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, a constant tension between religion and democracy, and an ever-growing economic inequality, contemporary Israeli existence germinates “perpetual violence”—the notion that violence can never be fully eliminated or controlled. This endless loop of anxiety and fear can be traced in a new cinematic movement consisting of more than ten Israeli features made between 2010 and 2015. Influenced by the Israeli “New Sensitivity” movement and the postmillennial “New Extremism” in European cinema, young Israeli filmmakers translate these tensions into provocative, challenging, and open-ended narratives. Focusing on rape, incest, or torture, their stories reject explicit interpretations and overt political messages identified with Shooting and Crying films. Instead, their “aesthetic of excess” off ers a radical way to think about the interrelation between aesthetics and politics by invoking a bodily experience and turning the occupation and the militarization of Israeli society into the subtext rather than the text.
Recommended Citation
Alexander, Neta
(2016)
"A Body in Every Cellar: The "New Violence" Movement in Israeli Cinema,"
Jewish Film & New Media: Vol. 4:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/jewishfilm/vol4/iss1/2