Based on the memoir by Amos Oz, A Tale of Love and Darkness, with a screenplay written and directed by Natalie Portman, is first and foremost a testimony of the weight of chronical sadness on family members. I may have a very personal take on it but the impact of living with and close to a direct family member affected by depression it is largely overrated.
Set on background of the moving sands of the British-ruled Palestine on the way of becoming the UN-declared state of Israel, the movie respects in very fine details the letter and spirit of the book. The personality of Amos Oz and the roots of his literary influence are strongly portrayed, and the interpretation is important for those familiar with Oz´s work. However, the film can be watched/read beyond those limitations, as a story of Jewish life at the very beginning of the state of Israel, with a strong community of intellectuals looking for finding a place or a role, alongside the fighters for independence and the broken souls from the old Europe.
All of those beginnings are portrayed in Oz´s tales, which maybe at a certain extent tried to keep alive those connection with the mother who left this world long before her physical disappearance.
A Tale of Love and Darkness is a fine movie, with both an emotional and historical plot lines. Natalie Portman - playing the role of the mother - is an excellent actress, finelly carrying on the burden of the love and the darkness.
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