Events out of the Middle East have dominated the news for most of the past few years. Bush’s phony and costly war for oil in Iraq, the unproductive search for Osama Bin Laden, and the never ending fight for a Palestinian homeland, with Israeli occupation and suicide bombers getting daily coverage.
Similarly the fight for gay rights has caught national and international attention, with the Supreme Court decision striking down anti-sodomy laws, Canada legalizing same sex marriage, and that issue becoming a lightening rod for right-wing extremists in this country heading into next year’s presidential elections.
Interweaving Middle East war tensions with gay rights issues is a touching little film now making its U.S. theatrical premiere. Yossi & Jagger (2002) tells the story of two Israeli army soldiers, one a no-nonsense officer, the other his free spirited platoon leader, who carry on a secret love affair while patroling the Israeli-Lebanese border. While their clandestine relationship is the focus of the movie, it also highlights the universal need for escape from the everyday stress and boredom of military life.
In Israel, service is mandatory for every citizen, and young Jagger (Yehuda Levi), so nicknamed by his platoon members because of his rock star personality, can’t wait to get through his tour of duty and return to civilian life. He’d like nothing more than to have the career-minded Yossi (Ohad Knoller) leave the service to join him, and that becomes a point of contention between the two. This is the army, and machismo is not only expected but praised. Despite that difference, they are able to sneak moments together that reveal a tender side of each.
There is a casual fraternization that runs throughout the entire company, from the Colonel who is carrying on an affair of his own with a female subordinate, to another young woman, Yaeli, who secretly longs for Jagger unaware of his disinterest, to another young soldier with his own desires for Yaeli. The atmosphere seems more like a college dorm than a military base, indicative of the way mandatory service has interrupted these young lives. These people don’t really want to be here and demonstrate an intense fatigue from the on-going conflict. A scene of how they deal with stress just moments before going out on yet another raid further plays up the futility of their predicament.
Yossi & Jagger has received good reviews overseas, including from the Israeli military. The film, actually shot on digital video, clocks in at a little over an hour, so the story telling is concise. To some it may raise more issues than it resolves, but at its bittersweet ending, the question asked and answered is what price is paid when two people must hide their feelings.