BaMidbar - Diptych Teudi: Halomo shel Omar

This is the story of Omar who returns to his place of birth after years away. He had a decent life in a small town nearby, but now felt that something had to change. And so, he chose to live in a structure more tent than house trying to eke out an existence in a part of the land the Israeli army considers a combat zone. In contrast to his opponent, Avidan, Omar is accompanied by his two wives and their children which adds various problems on top of the obvious ones that come with building a new life. Lending his story a very different flavor with an edge: While IN THE DESERT: A DOCUMENTARY DIPTYCH – AVIDAN’S DREAM is a rather virile affair – men at work –, IN THE DESERT: A DOCUMENTARY DIPTYCH – OMAR’S DREAM feels off and on like a domestic drama. Avner Faingulernt (who in 2005 together with Macabit Abramson had already told a story about the tense relationship between Palestinians and Israeli Jewish settlers as experienced by people with an ancient occupation in MEN ON THE EDGE – FISHERMEN’S DIARY) keeps his opinions to himself. He seems the heroism and the suffering, the absurdity and the glory in both tales. And he observes the wind of the Hebron hills that will blow long after the fate of this land has been decided. (Olaf Möller)