Anna (Asia Naifeld) is determined to uncover the truth no matter the cost in ROOM 514
ROOM 514 (Sharon Bar-Ziv, 2011)
Saturday, April 21, AMC Loews Village 7, 7:00
Sunday, April 22, Clearview Cinemas Chelsea, 9:45
Thursday, April 26, AMC Loews Village 7, 3:00
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www.room514.com
Writer-director Sharon Bar Ziv’s feature-film debut, Room 514, is a claustrophobic thriller about an idealistic young woman trapped between two worlds. Asia Naifeld stars as Anna, a military investigator who, as she is coming to the end of her term in the army, believes she has uncovered a serious breach of ethics involving a unit commanded by the well-connected Davidi (Udi Persi). Despite being told by her superior, Erez (Ohad Hall) ― an engaged man she is sleeping with ― to leave it alone, Anna pursues her questioning of Davidi and potential whistleblower Nimrod (Guy Kapul), a sergeant who is terrified of admitting the truth but can’t seem to just bury the lies. Bar Ziv sets most of the film inside the small Room 514, where Anna confronts Davidi and Nimrod and also has sweaty sex with Erez; only a few times does the camera venture outside to show the exhausted Anna taking the bus home, where she still lives with her mother. A tough interrogator, Anna is often interrupted by calls from her mother, which she takes even in the middle of the most heated questioning; although these scenes reveal Anna’s youth and immaturity, it is also hard to believe that her character would actually answer the phone at such moments, a serious flaw that nearly breaks down the film (which also cops out when Anna is later confronted by an army general major [Rafi Kalmar]). But it recovers once Anna is back on track and getting to the heart of both the charge of brutal violence against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories as well as her relationship with Erez, which might be a whole lot more complicated than she is willing to admit to herself. Inspired by actual events, Room 514 is a compelling look inside contemporary Israeli society as the next generation faces the ongoing battle against the Palestinians while also dealing with long-standing issues of gender and sexuality.