Courtesy of TIFF
Those who are confused by the current situation in the Middle East have a long, even more complicated history to consider that explains some of the roots of today’s issues. Shoshana takes place in 1938, when the British control Mandatory Palestine and the Nazis are beginning to conquer Europe. Two separate Jewish underground armies exist, the Haganah and the Irgun, each fighting for their vision of the future Israel, and tolerated and vilified to different degrees by the British forces trying to keep the peace. At the center is Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum), a Jewish woman romantically involved with English police officer Thomas Wilkin (Douglas Booth)…
Shoshana comes from filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, whose credits include A Mighty Heart, The Trip and its sequels, the underrated The Look of Love, and one of the first films I ever reviewed, Code 46. He doesn’t have a particular style that’s recognizable throughout his body of work, and this is one of his more serious efforts, leaving humor behind and trading it for drama and intrigue. The allegiances of his characters are overt but also complex, and what’s most clear is that everyone believes very strongly in what they’re fighting for, even if that sometimes puts them at odds with the law of the land and the people closest to them.
Courtesy of TIFF
Booth, who stars in That Dirty Black Bag, appears opposite Harry Melling from The Pale Blue Eye and The Queen’s Gambit as the more sympathetic face of imperialist law enforcement. The two of them are much more the focus of the story than its title character, who serves as a bridge to the Jewish population that has been present in the territory for several decades. All three were real people, though the story includes fictionalized elements to heighten the tension and to showcase the overlapping factions that resulted in a period of true unrest a decade before the establishment of an independent Israeli nation.
Courtesy of TIFF
As a straightforward period drama, this film works well enough, painting its three protagonistsas loyalists and fighters not easily convinced to back down from their beliefs. Melling manages to be convincingly unlikeable while Booth is more endearing, torn between love for a person and the law he must uphold in his official position. There’s plenty to consider about the notion of armed resistance and collateral damage in the pursuit of nationhood that this film starts to explore but doesn’t fully expand on, instead emphasizing itself as a snapshot of an era and the intersecting forces at play within it. B
Shoshana made its world premiere in the Special Presentation section at TIFF.