Live and Become DVD, 2005

Picking up three awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Live and Become is a gripping film set in 1984 Ethiopia, where civil war and famine reign. As thousands of displac... more >

Picking up three awards at the Berlin Film Festival, Live and Become is a gripping film set in 1984 Ethiopia, where civil war and famine reign. As thousands of displaced persons crowd into Sudanese refugee camps, American and Israeli troops organise ‘Operation Moses’, a mission aimed at relocating the wandering Falashas – Ethiopian Jews who claim direct lineage back to King Solomon’s days – to Israel. Forced by his Christian mother to declare himself Jewish to escape starvation, young Solomon is swept away to Israel, where his presumed salvation slowly gives way to the inner decay of a fading identity. < less

View all 94 of MovieMail’s reviews

The description of this film (in MovieMail) is useful and fair until the last sentence: there is no presumed salvation, no giving way to the inner decay of a fading id... more >

The description of this film (in MovieMail) is useful and fair until the last sentence: there is no presumed salvation, no giving way to the inner decay of a fading identity. On the contrary, the character of this Ethiopian refugee grows through every trial, every fierce encounter with prejudice, aggression, and every emotional ordeal.
Without undue sentimentality, thanks to his courage, and the humanity and love of his adoptive Jewish--but not practising--family,and his old Ethiopian (equally black) mentor, the growing adolescent realises his ideals of devotion, to his lost family, to others suffering from the calamities of war, from oppression, and brutality. A deeply moving and inspiring story. < less

View all 5 of Sidney Whitaker’s reviews