[CRITIQUE DVD] ROOM 514

Sorti on DVD on 1 April, ROOM 514 is the first feature film directed by the actor of israel Sharon Bar-Ziv. The opportunity for us to come back on this film, which had also received a positive reception from critics, the French when it was released last October.

The film focuses on the character of Anna (Asia Naifled), an investigator in the israeli army during a mission to flush out the responsible for the assault of a Palestinian citizen. Dominated by his sense of duty and determination, Anna made this investigation its priority, more than ever anxious to get to the end of the story. She conducts her interrogations, in the famous Room 514, a place for jousting, verbal intense, where the dialogs are coming like bullets that two enemies would send one after the other. Inspired by real events, the filmmaker takes the opportunity to deliver on his film a real breath documentary focusing on big plans that are always more immerse ourselves in the characters as well as long-plans sequences to promote the immersion.

Contrary to what one would have thought this Room 514 is not the only place of the plot since the director also chose to film his heroines in sequences more intimate when it decompresses, or layer with one of his colleagues. These few moments are synonymous of escape for Anna, because they are his human side, a facet most sensitive parts of her personality overwritten by its function, and this endless inquiry. However, his scenes tend to break the tension installed by the interrogatories, in view of their uses, in the end they give the scenario a twist cyclical and predictable, which loses the film its flavor.

Sharon Bar-Ziv manages to wake us up, making Room 514 a true mirror of the israeli society, where power relations dominate significantly. In addition to the communal tensions between Jews and Palestinians, we mainly present the journey of a woman trying to exist in this universe, military is largely dominated by the male sex . This young interviewer does not hesitate to take the heads of these men the more officers that she, Asia Naifeld affirms its conviction and sensuality that contrasts with the atmosphere of macho in which she is forced to live.

“A dive striking in a survey great train coupled to a metaphor that is relevant to israeli society.”

The set is quite repetitive, lengths remain, but ROOM 514 is still a dive striking in a survey great train coupled to a metaphor that is relevant to israeli society. Failing to be a master-stroke, Sharon Bar-Ziv achieves a rather a first film a promising and effectively staged.

Nothing to say about the technique in general, satisfactory this copy. Side bonus, in addition to two trailers of israeli films present in the catalogue of the distributor Blaq Out, we found an interesting documentary with historian Pierre Razoux, which enlightens us on the historical context of the Idf and of israeli society.

• Original title : Heder 514

• Achievement : Sharon Bar-Ziv

• Scenario : Sharon Bar-Ziv

• Main players : Asia Naifeld

• Country of origin : Israel

• Released : April 1, 2014

• Duration : 1h25

• Distributor : Blaq Out

• Synopsis : Anna, an investigator in the israeli army, is a young woman, idealistic. When she confronts a superior officer to charges of gratuitous violence against a Palestinian, his own integrity and determination are put to the test. Despite the political complexity of the case and the warnings of her colleagues, she takes a clear position against what looks like an abuse of power. But his quest for justice more and more difficult will have far-reaching consequences for all involved.