Movie Reviews : Sophisticated Surprise of Political Thriller ‘Owl’

After opening strong with “Late Summer Blues,” the current Israeli series at the Monica 4-Plex has presented one disappointing film after another. Consequently, “The Owl” comes as a pleasant surprise. Indeed, it’s not too much to say that this taut and bluntly critical political thriller is one of the best, most sophisticated Israeli films within memory.

Its typically convoluted plot and its references to Israeli policies and government institutions may confuse you, thanks to mediocre subtitles. At its crux are two couples, Yael (Leora Rivlin), a scrappy radio interviewer and news editor for the Voice of Jerusalem and her new husband Sender (Gedalia Besser), a university Russian studies department head and a Russian-Jewish emigre and Amnon (Assi Dayan), a sexy, ruthless, womanizing secret service agent, and his fed-up wife Bruria (Ofra Weingarten), who is Yael’s best friend.

The time is the release of Anatoly Shcharansky from the Soviet Union and his arrival in Israel. Writer Tuvia Mendelson and director Amnon Rubenstein use the release as a flash point for whipping up an intense atmosphere of Israeli paranoia about the entire process of intelligence gathering as well as Soviet motivations for trying to improve relations between the two countries.

It’s easier to say that the film makers mean a comment on the excesses of intelligence agencies and their endangerment to the freedom of the media than to prove it, for this is the kind of film in which irony compounds irony. Its real point seems to be that in these times it’s awfully hard to tell the good guys from the bad. (“The Owl” takes its title from the name of a yacht, the site of a key clandestine rendezvous, but it may have other meanings.)

The four central characters (and others) are exceptionally vital and well-drawn. They leave us feeling that we can’t really be sure we know others, even those closest to us. Who would guess, for example, that the headstrong, relentlessly probing and controversial Yael would prove to be such a plausible innocent, caught up as she is in her media stardom? And there’s always the chance that Amnon, despite his abrasive hypocrisy and aura of Mickey Rourke-like self-righteousness, may be in the right in his stubborn single-mindedness.

Volatile and possessing a terrific sense of immediacy, “The Owl” (Times-rated Mature for a fairly explicit sex scene and adult themes) is one of those films whose plot and ultimate meaning could just as believably proceed in one direction as another. In any event, it’s a punchy, crackling good entertainment.

“The Owl” moves over to the Town & Country for a week’s run.