Jellyfish

LOVE. LONGING. MAGIC

Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen’s 2007 entry to the Cannes Film festival proved to be worthy of its Camera D’ Or. In fact, I think it should have won an Oscar too. I am not kidding. I so love this film that I entreat everyone who can read subtitles or at least speak Hebrew to watch this film, especially if you are a Filipino.
We first see the newly single Batya in an akward goodbye scene with her ex-boyfriend. She looked sad but she wasn’t crying and she didn’t ask him to stay. In this film the stories of three women intersect at a Tel Aviv Wedding. Batya worked as a waitress; Joy, a Filipina a caregiver for an elderly woman; and the bride who sprained her ankle, ruining her dream honeymoon.
The actress who played Batya hardly spoke but her eyes and movements say it all. I am thankful that the role of Joy was given to a relatively . Keren the bride is the character I liked least because she seemed so demanding and spoiled by her dotting husband.
I was intrigued at first as to why they would include a story about a Filipino OCW in their film. I transcribed an interview of Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret which surprised me and made me admire them even more:

“Because of the harsh political reality in Israel, most of the social issues have been forgotten. Both in the representation in art but also in everyday life, and there is something about the Filipino people that in a sense they are almost invisible. You see many of them walking down streets taking care of the elderly but basically when people go in the street, they look through them; they do not exist. Shira was fascinated with the story because there was something ironic with the fact that the Filipinos leave their children behind to come and take care of some elderly person instead of their children. So it’s like a circle; you neglect your own child so you can take care of somebody else’s parent because his child doesn’t want to take care of him. And because she experience such a relationship between her grandmother and a Filipino woman took care of her became good friends with her and also changed the grandmother’s attitude to life it was very natural for Shira to chose this story and I felt was an important story to tell.” (Etgar Keret)

Oh and the kid, of course! Batya found a child by the beach wearing a lifesaver around her waist. I thought it was amusing, seeing that the kid had red hair and doesn't speak, maybe she is Irish and doesn't understand Hebrew, funny how the other people didn't ask her in English. Lost in translation once again. On another hand, I may just be generalizing and that is not good either. The kid seem to be a guide for Batya, and led her to Malka who somehow helped her get in touch with her childhood memories.

One criticsm though: I just thought it was impractical of Joy to bring the giant ship back home to the Philippines as a carry on luggage, but that's just me.

Obviously I really love this film and I give it a grade of 93. See the trailer below.