Hitganvut Yehidim

I don't know how long the novel is that they based this movie on, but the movie has too many dramatic things happening too fast to too many extreme characters. The characters are well acted, and the incidents are not wildly unrealistic (only a little), but the way the incidents are crowded together is counterproductive. This story could have been spun out into a good TV series and come across as a more believable picture of life in the training camp for Israeli military recruits who are less than hale and hardy. Given an episode a week, it could have afforded to spend some time showing that most of the days pass in routine and that most of the recruits are not extreme misfits. It could have given a clearer picture of some of the characters and relationships-- when everyone's in uniform, a little extra effort is needed to keep them identifiable as individuals-- and not skimped on the background or the consequences of the dramatic things that happen.