OCTOBER 17, 2026 05:18

Avi Nesher's newest feature, Our Loves, reached cinemas throughout Israel on Thursday, delivering a touching and powerful tale of regular individuals facing intense situations.

The narrative unfolds with tension, sorrow, occasional humor, and consistent humanity. It might even alter how audiences perceive their surroundings and inner selves.

Nesher has framed it as the tale of seven figures who each assume they face their toughest day on October 6, 2023.

That summary provides enough context before viewing, and while the October 7 events feature prominently, the work avoids becoming merely an October 7 film.

It stands apart from series such as Red Alert and One Day in October, which presented dramatized accounts of actual individuals, because this story tracks invented characters going about daily routines until the massacre interrupts them.

Certain October 7 portrayals resemble news footage, yet this version achieves true cinematic depth

Those earlier works felt like enacted reports, whereas Our Loves creates a distinct, immersive viewing experience.

Following people convinced their stress peaked on October 6 supplies an insightful method for exploring October 7. Audiences learn each personality and grow absorbed in their journeys.

The assault arrives only after nearly an hour of engagement, allowing viewers to nearly overlook the looming events for the main figures.

Our Loves begins with a quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Love in the Time of Cholera: Love is always immersive, anytime and anyplace, but it is more intense the nearer it comes to death.

This establishes the mood for the characters' arcs, which center on love in various forms as the title indicates.

Subverting expectations, the film starts at a concert revealed as a rock event on October 5 rather than the Nova festival, where most central figures gather for varied motives, and their backgrounds emerge slowly.

Among them stands Shabi (Shalom Michaelshvili), a blunt retired general who is divorced and pursuing legal action against his former spouse to compel sale of their home, which she and the children resist.

He convinces himself the action is justified, yet his determined daughter Liri (Noa Cohen) can scarcely meet his gaze.

Internally he recognizes a loss, yet he persists with the proceedings, including a difficult hearing on the morning of October 6.

Liri visits the rock concert to back her new partner Matan (Nevo Katan), a sound technician on site, whose parents Katya (Lena Fraifeld) and Gadi (Lior Miller) are separating as Katya seeks independence.

Katya relocates to the younger section of the border kibbutz near Liri and Matan.

Police officer Mili (Magi Azarzar), assigned security at the gathering, feels anxious about introducing her partner Sandra (Hadas Yaron), a reserved nuclear scientist at the Dimona facility, to her traditional Moroccan mother (Evelin Hagoel).

Niso (Yaniv Biton), a fellow officer, reluctantly prepares to resign and relocate to Europe with his spouse for a high-paying marketing role.

Sapir (Daniel Gimpel), a young observant woman, longs to wed and build a family while also craving trance music and dance, traits her suitors view as unsuitable.

On October 6 morning, the partner she expected to become engaged to ends the relationship.

Her friend (Kim Or Azulay) urges her to seek enjoyment despite Shabbat and Simchat Torah observances by heading to the Nova festival.

Caught between faith and a desire to break free, Sapir consents and even ingests a substance obtained by her friend from Yoyo (Leib Levin), a charismatic dealer who conceals his supply in his clothing.

Personal traits persist amid danger

Abruptly from 6:29 a.m. on October 7, surroundings shift rapidly, turning every action into a survival decision.

Yet individual natures remain unchanged under pressure, and Nesher's light touch with wit and irony endures even while portraying catastrophe.

Shabi rushes southward to rescue Liri upon hearing of the kibbutz assault, yet he requires a weapon and support.

At a military post he gathers four of the most unprepared soldiers ever shown on screen, all sharing the same initial letter in their names, complicating his ability to distinguish them.

Perhaps that works in his favor, he mutters, given their slim odds of returning safely.

The mix of humor and sorrow involving the four soldiers and Shabi unfolds across the day, gradually prompting the once-arrogant general to reconsider his treatment of others.

Surprising levity surfaces elsewhere as well, though details risk spoilers.

One memorable instance illustrating Nesher's method occurs when Matan's prior partner (singer-actress Neomi Aharoni Gal, known as Nunu, who also sings the title track), operating a hot-dog stand at Nova, attempts escape while clutching her steamer unit.

An officer striving to repel attackers with a handgun urges her to abandon it and flee, but she clings to the bulky device, insisting she cannot manage without it.

Knowing the festival outcome, her action appears unwise, yet it reflects the difficulty of adapting instantly amid chaos.

Many struggled with that shift that day, and this scene particularly conveys the mindset of those present.

Strong performances (Shalom Michaelshvili, noted for comedy, as the general, and newcomer Daniel Gimpel as the observant festival attendee stand out amid the cast), fresh score, and striking visuals unite to convey the tale.

The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month amid prevailing anti-Israel currents in global arts circles.

Some critics there faulted the work for omitting the Hamas perspective alongside Israeli characters.

Nesher has stated in discussions that he could not craft scenes from the viewpoint of attackers who would set families ablaze, and attempting such an angle would likely have invited accusations of cultural overreach.

Foreign reviewers with firm views on terrorist depiction overlooked a late scene at a hospital where the lead physician (Hisham Suleiman) is Arab.

These critics lack familiarity with local languages to identify Hebrew versus Arabic speech, yet presume to dictate the story's presentation.

One reviewer, writing from a Toronto hotel, claimed several characters appeared insufficiently upset given the events, as though possessing firsthand knowledge of responses during prolonged attacks.

The comment also indicates unawareness that Hamas had launched thousands of rockets at Israel before October 7, leading many to initially view the assault as routine.

Still, the director succeeds in drawing informed viewers past headlines into the personal stories.

In a pivotal moment, as Hamas rockets streak toward the festival site, the audience shares Sapir's perspective so fully that the lights briefly register as possible festival fireworks.

In that instant and others, such as inside an ambulance or along a road during a lull, viewers share the characters' embrace of life.

Watching the film can prove transformative, prompting a fresh outlook on personal existence, much like the survivors experience by day's end.

Nesher, among Israel's leading directors, excels at storytelling, here managing multiple threads. He launched his career more than four decades ago with the classic army troupe film The Troupe.

His credits include modern standards such as Turn Left at the End of the World and the recent historical drama Image of Victory, which examined both sides of the Nitzanim battle in the War of Independence.

It fits that he would craft the human core of this tragic day into compelling cinema.