If you are thinking about improving a language, any language, watching movies in the original language with subtitles helps a lot. The language of movies is usually easy, using basic conversational vocabulary, the kind you need to maintain a basic conversation. Additionally, movies are an excellent way to get immersed into a culture. No wonder that the American culture is so well known everywhere as the movies made in Hollywood do have such a widespread audience.
For those who are looking to improve their Hebrew while getting to know different historical and cultural facts about Israel, Izzy Streamisrael offers a good selection.
I tested the service for a week and was overall happy with the results, only that as for now the selection of movie is relatively limited. You will not find very popular Israeli movies, of the kind of those aired at international film festivals but rather popular local series and films. There are a couple of documentaries, but unfortunately none of the old movies.
However, it seems that the list of movies is permanently changing and those who are aired are really unique, of the kind that you hardly hear about it. Which does not mean that they are not worth watching.
The registration process on the platform is very easy: you register an email address, set up an account and a password. It costs 5 USD per month - which is a ridiculous price after all - with a 7-day free access. If you have some time on your sleeves and you love movies, one week is enough to figure out if you want to continue your membership or not.
The main language of the website is English and one can watch it everywhere in the world. Especially for those looking to a more in-depth connection with Israel, the real Israel with all its goods and bads, Izzy Streamisrael is an easy gateway.
Here are the films that I watched during my trial period.
Allenby St.
The 12 episodes of Allenby St. - in installments of 30 minutes each - are based on the bestseller book of Gadi Taub - unfortunately only published in Hebrew. Taub also created the series and also has an episodic role. The film is following the spirit and the flesh of the book which follows the complicated relationships in the underworld of Tel Aviv, where Orthodox drug dealers meet desillusioned religious girls turned prostitutes, bouncers, merciless mafia-connected security guards and sentimental night club owners.
The film has an alert pace, a couple of great twists and some good human insights, plus some good actors - like Aviv Alush (maybe they will upload more of his movies on the platform, one day). I watched it over the last weekend and it was definitely worth it. Like the book, it is not for the faint of heart and it contains openly aggressive and violent and sexual content, but it shares a slice of real Israeli life.
Benched
A short movie (22 minutes) directed by Gill Weinstein, Benched features Baruch, a former successful basketball player in the 1970s who became religious, abandoned his career and retired from the city. Now, he is back to visit unannounced her former lover and eventually see for the first time their son that he abandonned.
I loved the concision of the visual language, as well as the fine tensions created through different encounters featuring the before and after. Although it is not explicitly expressed into words, the gestures, movements of the eyes the oppositions between the old and new life are building up finely.
Although it is hard to remain non-judgemental, there is a beauty in the dramatic failures and human mistakes.
Ben David
The half-hour short movie by Evyatar Rosenberg, Ben David was my least favorite movie. One Shabak - Israel´s internal intelligence - agent, a religious Jew, is switched unexpectedly from one department to another. His new assignment is to recruit and infiltrate the Hilltop Youth movement, radicalized youngsters living in the settlements, often opposed to the state institutions, particularly police and Army.
Although the topic is interesting, the intrusive ways of the Shabak agent were annoying and clumsy. Personally, I didn´t connect at all with this movie. Maybe the 30-Minute length was not the right tempo.
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