Soberly relevant in light of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, filmmaker Michael Winterbottom takes us back to the pre-1948 establishment of the state of Israel and early rise of Zionist activism, as told through a love story between a Jew and a Brit. Shoshana is an ambitious project as it weaves action sequences with socio-political ideas of the era with some degree of success – greatly helped by its protagonists’ professions that allow greater insight into the region’s developing unrest.
Set in 1930s’ cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum) casually meets Englishman Thomas Wilkins (Douglas Booth) at a party, who is assigned to the Palestinian police force, and they begin an affair. Their union is doomed from the beginning as work and social alliances threaten journalist Shoshana’s wellbeing, while Wilkins investigates escalating violence against Arabs from various Zionist militant factions and puts himself in danger’s path.
At the same...
Set in 1930s’ cosmopolitan Tel Aviv, Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum) casually meets Englishman Thomas Wilkins (Douglas Booth) at a party, who is assigned to the Palestinian police force, and they begin an affair. Their union is doomed from the beginning as work and social alliances threaten journalist Shoshana’s wellbeing, while Wilkins investigates escalating violence against Arabs from various Zionist militant factions and puts himself in danger’s path.
At the same...
- 11/1/2023
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Britain’s official post-wwi administration of Palestine lasted from 1920-48 and is probably the UK colonial enterprise least addressed by its fiction filmmakers. But now prolific writer-director Michael Winterbottom uses that complicated era as a backdrop to the compelling historical romance “Shoshana.” A passion project 15 years in the making and based on real people and events, the film employs the ill-fated, cross-cultural relationship between a ranking member of the British Palestine Police Force and a young Jewish woman to explore the way extremism and violence push people apart, forcing them to choose sides.
It’s worth noting upfront that while the British rulers had to deal with both Palestine’s Arab and Jewish citizens, each of whom want an independent country, the narrative here hews firmly to a British and Jewish p.o.v., with Arabs barely characterized except as victims and troublemakers. By the 1930s, Palestine is a cauldron...
It’s worth noting upfront that while the British rulers had to deal with both Palestine’s Arab and Jewish citizens, each of whom want an independent country, the narrative here hews firmly to a British and Jewish p.o.v., with Arabs barely characterized except as victims and troublemakers. By the 1930s, Palestine is a cauldron...
- 9/17/2023
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Scripted films about political revolutions often have the luxury of marinating in esoteric debates about philosophies and forms of government that are completely detached from reality. If a filmmaker’s mission is to advance one ideology over another, it’s easy to abandon real-world nuance and cast their preferred parties as underdogs in a Hollywood-style good vs. evil saga. Michael Winterbottom’s “Shoshana” takes a different approach, immediately demonstrating its understanding that even the most intellectually committed activists have to consider dubious alliances to avoid total annihilation.
The British director’s new political thriller is set in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, during Britain’s occupation of Palestine that saw the military try to find a peaceful compromise between Palestinian natives and Zionists trying to establish Israel on their faith’s holiest grounds. Locals are forced to choose between supporting an unwanted occupation from an imperialist nation or violent nationalist...
The British director’s new political thriller is set in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, during Britain’s occupation of Palestine that saw the military try to find a peaceful compromise between Palestinian natives and Zionists trying to establish Israel on their faith’s holiest grounds. Locals are forced to choose between supporting an unwanted occupation from an imperialist nation or violent nationalist...
- 9/8/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Four years after his last full-length feature — the black comedy Greed, starring Steve Coogan as a venal business tycoon — Michael Winterbottom is back, this time with a political drama set in Tel Aviv, based on real-life people and events that occurred during the 1930s, in the run-up to the foundation of Israel in 1948.
Making its world premiere next week at the Toronto International Film Festival, it stars newcomer Irina Starshenbaum as the title character, a newspaper journalist with strong leftist leanings and ties to underground Jewish groups. Against the odds, Shoshana is romantically involved with Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth), whose job as an assistant superintendent with the British Palestine Police puts him in conflict with outlawed organizations such as Irgun and Lehi.
The couple’s unlikely relationship is called into question by the arrival of Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling), who comes to head up the anti-terrorist squad and, specifically,...
Making its world premiere next week at the Toronto International Film Festival, it stars newcomer Irina Starshenbaum as the title character, a newspaper journalist with strong leftist leanings and ties to underground Jewish groups. Against the odds, Shoshana is romantically involved with Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth), whose job as an assistant superintendent with the British Palestine Police puts him in conflict with outlawed organizations such as Irgun and Lehi.
The couple’s unlikely relationship is called into question by the arrival of Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling), who comes to head up the anti-terrorist squad and, specifically,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
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