"For out of the scent of nothingness, the tree blossoms, glorious, beautiful, and in its crown, an enchanted bird." – Zelda
Tzvia lives at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem's Old City and at the center of an Orthodox family of six. Contrary to what one might think, each is a lonely place. Her home is well within a sprawling Jewish cemetery and a maze of ancient graves, and her husband, Reuven, is indifferent as the stone. He treats Tzvia more like a servant than spouse. Reuven leaves her questions and concerns in rigid silence. Walks through the cemetery, encounters with strangers and Zelda's poetry bring comfort to Tzvia in her loneliness. As Reuven's intransigence grows, Tzvia begins to walk among the graves at night. The distant bells, poems, calls to prayer, silence of night, intriguing conversations and voyeur-like existence become as much a part of her as anything else. She struggles to reconcile this with the rest of her life.
Mountain is the first film of Yaelle Kayam. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in that Kayam takes a path beholden to no one, and a curse in that she is seeking her footing and it is a little shaky. One of the things I like most about this film is that its characters are not one-dimensional. Many films, especially those that portray ultra-religious personalities, fall into this trap. Kayam's characters are not so black and white, and that is refreshing and truer to life. While it is a slow-moving film that could use more depth in a variety of places, it provides compelling insight into loneliness, the Mount of Olives cemetery, the Orthodox Jewish culture and – most poignantly – a woman in crisis. Seen at the 2016 Miami International Film Festival.
