A Tale of Love and Darkness

Lee, Maria Kaitrina C.

A53 HUMALIT

Art in Action film series:

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Last Wednesday, June 8, 2016, the film, A Tale of Love and Darkness was shown. In this film, in the beginning there is an old man who narrates a story that tells the story of Amos Oz, a young Jewish kid who moved to Jerusalem during a difficult time. This film also has a book with the same title, which is the author’s autobiography. I felt that this movie was very interesting yet mind boggling. It was interesting because of the plot, and how the story was told, yet mind boggling due to the mysterious lover of Fania, who in the end was actually death. There were actually clues throughout the entire movie that I did not notice at first such as the stories she told during bed time, there would always be someone who dies at the end, I did not see this as a clue until the end but, those who actually died in her story, was her, it was a way to show that she was battling depression, which is shown through the stories told. Another was in the end she danced with the “mysterious lover” who in the end was actually death, and she embraced and welcomed it. Also that the old man who was actually telling the story was Amos himself, and even then he still thinks about his mother. But overall, even if the movie was in Hebrew, it was a well-directed film.

The main characters in this story is Amos, a child of Fania and Arieh, he is a boy who idolizes his mom, and she is his world. Fania, is a woman, mother to Amos, and wife to Arieh, came from an affluent family in Europe and is trying to cope up with the life in the Middle East. As for Arieh, father of Amos, and husband of Fania, is a librarian and an aspiring writer.

The protagonist in the film is Fania because no matter how much she is suffering from her depression, she still manages to care for her husband, Arieh and her kid, Amos. The antagonist in the film is Fania’s depression because this is what is hindering her from doing what she wants be, to be happy. It also made her suffer for a long time and even her husband could not help her anymore.

Amos is a Round character because in the beginning he was just an innocent kid who didn’t know anything but then as the movie progresses,