Time of Favor (DVD)

Winner of six Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and highly acclaimed in its U.S. theatrical release, Time of Favor weaves an intricate tale of passion, loyalty and conspiracy amidst the contemporary political powder-keg and timeless austere beauty of Israel's West Bank. In a film the New York Times calls an "arthouse thriller," deft characterizations and a fine-tuned plot depict the people and stakes behind an Israeli settlement with a clarity and complexity not hinted at in today's headlines.

A highly respected soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces, Menachem (Aki Avni) is also a devout student of controversial West Bank settlement leader Rabbi Meltzer (Assi Dayan). Despite the army's doubts and the Israeli Secret Service's suspicions, Menachem receives permission to lead an army unit made up of his fellow students from Rabbi Meltzer's West Bank Yeshiva. Rabbi Meltzer's star pupil and Menachem's best friend, Pini (Edan Alterman), gladly accepts the Rabbi's invitation to court his beautiful, headstrong daughter, Michal (Tinkerbell). But Michal, suffocated by settlement life and repulsed by her father's expectations, is drawn not to Pini's religious devotion but to Menachem's quiet strength. As the Rabbi's agenda, the Army's control and Pini's desperation all build to a boil, Menachem and Michal's secret passion threatens to destroy more than just their reputations. A violent scheme to blow up the Temple Mount soon puts all their allegiances to the test.

From a peaceful desert sunrise on the Wailing Wall to a frantic chase through an 1800 year-old network of tunnels, Time of Favor raises issues of religious faith and duty to one's nation that are inextricably relevant to our lives today.