Sweet Mud
To many, the mere concept of the Israeli kibbutz is reminiscent of solidarity, community spirit and romanticism. The reality, however, can be very different. It is 1974 and Dvir, 12, is entering his bar mitzvah year. He will have many difficult tasks to fulfill on the road to becoming a man; but the most difficult one of all is coping with his mother Miri, whom he loves above all else. Dvir knows that she is fragile and needs to be protected. When Stephan, Miri´s Swiss boyfriend, comes to visit, he captures Dvir´s heart and makes Miri happier than she´s been in years. When he proposes to her and states his intention of moving to the kibbutz, the future seems bright. But Stephan crosses the boundaries of this closed community by attacking one of the members in an attempt to protect Dvir, and is forced to leave. This turn of events breaks Miri´s spirit and fractures her delicate status in the kibbutz. Dvir feels that he is the only one who can help his mother now - even if it is in a radical, irreversible way.
Casting a critical and intensely personal eye on life on a kibbutz, ‘Sweet Mud’ peels away the layers of folklore and romanticism to reveal the harshness of the communal enterprise. Israeli director Dror Shaul places his outstanding cast in settings of lush visual beauty in a film that was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters and Directors Lab with input by Stephen Gaghan, Ed Harris amongst others.
Director Dror Shaul :
Building the courage to write this script took years. Sweet Mud is not an entirely true story,
but it is true that the film emerged from the same land in which my childhood memories are
now buried. As a boy born and raised on a kibbutz, my film confronts the collective memory
of a kibbutz, as a habitat to picturesque landscapes and natures’ magical scents, with my
own private memories. Making this film was a long and sometimes exhausting process similar
only to that of the coming of age. My aim was to make a film about the longing for warmth
and emotions, a longing for the illusion that we are in fact not alone.
Building the courage to write this script took years. Sweet Mud is not an entirely true story,
but it is true that the film emerged from the same land in which my childhood memories are
now buried. As a boy born and raised on a kibbutz, my film confronts the collective memory
of a kibbutz, as a habitat to picturesque landscapes and natures’ magical scents, with my
own private memories. Making this film was a long and sometimes exhausting process similar
only to that of the coming of age. My aim was to make a film about the longing for warmth
and emotions, a longing for the illusion that we are in fact not alone.
Jul 25th 2010