Page - 116 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/01

approach to equality, justice, war and peace, Gitai resembles a contemporary prophet who speaks from the “deserted space of cinema”, which he inhabits and in which he reconstructs humanity. GEULA (REDEMPTION) Geula is a film about a widowed father, Menachem, who lives within an Ortho- dox community with his daughter Geula. Menachem is isolated from both his religious community and the outside world; he is a loner. He was the leader of a well-known rock band before he became “religious”. His conversion to religion led him to take up an ordinary job in the local shop, bringing him anonymity, far from night clubs, concerts and his friends. His realization that he cannot be- come “a scholar” coincides with his daughter’s grave illness. When she needs additional chemotherapy that is too expensive for her father, he decides to ap- proach his friends and reassemble the band to raise the money for his daugh- ter’s treatment. His friends accept his suggestion, play at weddings and are will- ing to help him, but they have an ambition to go further and recalibrate their lost fame. Menachem’s world starts slowly to crumble. As his friends question his decisions, his inner strength, his relationship with his late wife, and his state, Menachem realizes that he cannot reconcile his old self with the new religious person he has become, that he does not belong to either of the two worlds and that he cannot express joy. The struggle for the life of his daughter opens old wounds and questions, reflecting another struggle – the inner struggle of a fa- ther who is wrestling with both God and the world. Going through redemption and reconciliation, Menachem eventually finds hope by the end of the film and the first clear signs of his daughter’s healing. Although Geula focuses on the figure of the father, the character through whom healing is made possible is his daughter Geula, whose name means redemption. RETHINKING RELIGION In collaboration with Yacov, Madmony revisits questions of religion and faith with Geula. The Madmony/Yacov team tells the story of an isolated man who belongs in neither of two worlds completely: he abandons “this world” for the sake of religion, yet he is a second-class person within his religious com- munity because he is newly converted, having been religious for only 15 years, unlike members who “were born in religious communities”.26 The father, who is unable to find himself, pulls his daughter into the world of isolation, but his daughter becomes his guide through the space confined to repetition and rituals. 26 Joseph Madmony, interview by the author, 30.07.2018. 116 | Milja Radovic www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/1