Film Summary
The winner of nine prizes at the Israeli Academy Awards and a hit in its home country, the lovely movie BROKEN WINGS is the extraordinarily moving story of the life and loves of the Ullman family, an ordinary Israeli family coping with everyday life. Nine months after her husband died, Dafna Ullman (renowned stage actress Orli Zilberschatz-Banai) has just gone back to work as a night shift hospital midwife. 16-year old Yair has dropped out of school, abandoned a potential basketball career and now hides inside a mouse costume, distributing flyers on the subway. Eleven-year-old Ido deals with his building aggression by trying to break the world free jump record (and practices into an empty swimming pool), while six year-old Bahr begins a lonely first day of school. So it's left to 17-year-old Maya, a budding singer/song writer, to act as a surrogate mother to her youngest siblings. Everyone tries to navigate their daily lives as best as they can -- jobs, romances, car trouble -- but when Maya forgets to pick up little Bahr from school it causes a major upheaval in their lives. Told with sincerity, drama, and self-deprecating humor, Nir Bergman's feature debut has a remarkable freshness and a keen sense of observation of the contemporary family. Shot entirely on location in Haifa and Tel Aviv, BROKEN WINGS reveals an Israel very different from the televised news images and violent world politics, and also portrays a truly universal experience.