A Quiet Heart, written and directed by Eitan Anner

A Quiet Heart, written and directed by Eitan Anner

A Quiet Heart is a…quiet, good, though provoking, interesting, sad, meditative, but alas, not much noticed film.

On the film site that matters, IMDB, there were only five critic reviews, until this note was posted.

Furthermore, not even the Israeli film Academy has considered this work, except for one nomination:

Ania Bukstein, very good in the title role of Naomi, was nominated by the aforementioned academy for the prize of best actress.

By the way, the film is Israeli and it deals with some of that country’s issues, but also universal themes.

Naomi is a young woman, a promising pianist disappointed by missing on a coveted prize, who wants to change her life.

She moves from her parents’ home in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

One character is puzzled, intrigued by this move for she says:

All young people move the other way around.

Indeed, one of the main themes of the motion picture has to do with ultra-orthodox, community much bigger in Jerusalem.

Naomi parks her car near the new residence, only to be fined daily, by an obnoxious official who is not just mean, but threating, fearsome and a heinous, villainous man as it turns out, who disregards the young woman.

She tries to explain that she just moved, her Tel Aviv plates do not indicate it, but she lives right near.

It does not matter for this ruthless individual, who has other, hidden motives for his daily punishment.

There is a growing conflict between the young, more liberal woman, at least in appearance, and the ultra-orthodox.

Men with the ritual beards stop her, harass, threaten and insult the jogging woman, who is a “whore” for those who want a certain, thousands year old status for women to be maintained in this age.

A family of religious people lives near Naomi’s rented apartment and one of the many children - his name might have been Schimi- climbs dangerously over the balconies to enter through the window and…play.

The woman who has died and we would later learn had committed suicide under pressure in this apartment had had a piano and she had taught Schimi to play.

The mother arrives with- was it nine children? - her family and she wants to celebrate a mitzvah.

This is funny because she has this cake in her hands and does not wait for the host to utter anything…

Come on, children…get in

Naomi did not look thrilled and she insists on the fact that the son is engaged in a very dangerous enterprise, with his climbing over the edge of the building, at a height sufficient to cause death from a possible fall.

Nevertheless, the orthodox mother is a good woman and Naomi ends up giving a key to their apartment for the young piano player to use when he wants to reach the instrument and not risk his life.

Naomi herself wants to learn to play the organ in a monastery nearby, from a friendly Italian monk.

However, this is not what the orthodox community wants…in fact they would not tolerate it and they send threats.

Into the story, we have the other side of this conflict, another young woman who acts against religious abuses.

She is the one who takes Naomi to the police station to determine the law to take action in this case.

Naomi is rather silent and the activist pressures the policeman to act, until he gets angry and says…”you either shut up or get out”

The protagonist stops the escalation of this clash and she states that she will not register a complaint.

Nevertheless, the tension is rising and we get the feeling that the ultimate goal is to eliminate this “liberal” by any means…either she moves from this “decent, religious neighborhood”, or she has to die…