A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

Borders: 'You think war can be gentle?'
`Une bouteille à la mer' or A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is at once an incredibly tender love story restricted to the Internet and an intensive exploration of both side of the Israeli and Palestinian dilemma that begs for resolution. The story is by Valérie Zenatti and has been adapted for the screen and directed by French writer/director Thierry Binisti. While the content of the relationship between the main characters is fragile it serves as an exposé of how seemingly impossible life must be living in that small area of the world so vulnerable to repeated hostilities.

The film opens sensitively at the beach - there is a barbed wire barricade separating parts of the beach - and a young man (Eytan Levine - Abraham Belaga) is throwing a whiskey bottle into the ocean. Inside the bottle is a letter from Etyan's sister Tal (Agathe Bonitzer) requesting that whoever finds the bottle to please email her where the bottle was found and who found it. Tal is 17 and...

Separated By More Than A Sea: Can You See Past A Lifetime of Hatred And Conflict?
The sensitive international drama "A Bottle in the Gaza Sea" reflects on the Israeli and Palestinian conflict in an extremely personal way. It posits that those on both sides hold more common ground than you might imagine. But between history and politics, the bad blood continues into the next generation. With children indoctrinated into preexisting prejudices due to almost constant bloodshed, there seems to be no potential end in sight. What if, however, we could open a dialogue? What if we could see beyond an ideology and see the individuals involved? The confused teen at the heart of Thierry Binisti's heartfelt film is looking for nothing more than understanding. The violence that she witnesses close to home cause her to search for answers, and this quest leads to the unlikely long distance friendship at the heart of the film. In many ways, this is a coming-of-age story told from two unique perspectives. And as both of the story threads play out, the movie expertly contrasts the...

a MUST-SEE for anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestine conflict
I recently saw this movie at the 2013 Jewish and Israeli Film Festival here in Cincinnati. I now notice that this movie is scheduled for a DVD release by Film Movement. I absolutely love the Film Movement library of foreign and indie movies, so this makes complete sense to me.

"A Bottle in the Gaza Sea" (2011 release from France/Israel; 99 min.) brings the story of the 17 yr. old French-Jewish girl Tal whose family moved from Paris to Jerusalem. Tal is frustrated by the thread of violence from the Gaza Strip and throws a bottle in the sea, hoping someone in Gaza will get it and respond to her invitation to correspond with her via email. A group of young men in Gaza in fact do find the bottle, and 20 yr. old Naim emails her. After initial suspiscion between the two, a fragile friendship develops, and Naim takes up French at the Gaza French Cultural Center, with the hope of eventually getting a scholarship to study in France. Meanwhile Tal's brother Eytan serves in the...

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