Melting Away

I wish this film would be seen more widely. It is about how a family reconciles itself to a son (Assaf) who is a transsexual but it could be any kind of non-criminal behaviour that the relatives find objectionable. The mother, the father and even a slightly twisted uncle have difficulties accepting Assaf's decision and new life as a woman. The acting is superb as each supporting character, including a detective who blow's the son's cover story, comes to grips with the new reality.

Although the story has a universal message, there is one subtlety of the Hebrew language that s non-Hebrew speaker must know to appreciate how well this film is constructed. In Hebrew, "you" for a man (atah) is different for than "you" for a woman (at). This extends to "you" as an object in a sentence (otchah/otach). Hopefully my crummy Hebrew got that right. I have found that Israelis can become quite snotty (even more than usual) when addressed incorrectly.

The English subtitles try to convey Anna (formerly Assaf)'s discomfort at being addressed as a man. However, the subtitles fail the non-Hebrew speaker at the moment when Anna's mother finally addresses Anna as "at".

With that little Hebrew lesson in mind, I highly recommend this film to anyone.