Bar 51

Film poster

Bar 51 (Hebrew: בר 51) is a 95-minute 1986 Israeli Hebrew-language independent underground dramatic art film directed by Amos Guttman and cowritten with Edna Mazia and Eli Tavor.[1][2][3][4][5]

Synopsis

The film deals with Thomas’s (Juliano Mer-Khamis) incestuous love for his sister, Mariana (Smadar Kilchinsky): After they arrive together in Tel Aviv and Jaffa, after escaping from Migdal HaEmek due to the death of their Christian mother, Ewa (Rahel Shor), and setting up housekeeping in the sleazy side of town, Thomas makes his money as “kept man” for two different women who are nightclub entertainers at a bar filled with homosexual, deformed, and inebriated workers, Luna (Belinka Metzner) and Zara a.k.a. Sarah Azulay (Irit Sheleg). He first attempts to work at a hotel yet is fired upon being caught stealing supplies for Mariana and has to resort to a dirty shelter. At the same time, he attracts the attentions of an amorous transvestite prostitute and stripper (“Ada Valerie-Tal” i.e. Sergiu Valerie) calling himself “Apolonia Goldstein” (a character based on Abraham Goldstein a.k.a. “Gila Goldstein” who ran a real-life bar called Bar 51) who allows the siblings to live at his apartment. His unnatural love for his sister goes unexpressed, however, his jealousy cannot be controlled. If his sister wants to lead any sort of a normal life, it will be up to her to break her dependence on her brother and move on. The film, developed at Herzliya Studios and distributed by Shapira Films, stars inter alia Alon Abutbul, Mosko Alkalai,[6] Poly Reshef, and David Wilson and features music by Arik Rudich and Shimrit Or (in addition to a song performed by Sarah’le Sharon and written by Dudu Barak and Yeshayahu (Shaike) Paikov), cinematography by Yossi Wein, editing by Tova Ascher,[7] and production by Enrique Rottenberg and Efrat Stieglitz.[8] The film ends with Thomas violently raping Mariana, following by her killing him.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

Reception

Journalist Yael Israel favorably compared this film to the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese,[26] journalist Nachman Ingber blasted the film for its lack of “style” though he nonetheless called it one of the great Israeli films of the 1980s,[27] while journalist Daniel Warth also noted the similarities to Fassbinder and Pier Paolo Pasolini, yet claimed that these remained on the surface only, as this film lacked a “message.”[28] Nevertheless, more recently, it came out as the 30th best Israeli film out of 40 listed in a poll of critics conducted by Maariv,[29] and also received two votes (Marat Parkhomovsky and Yael Shuv) in a similar 2018 survey of critics.[30] The film, whose budget was said to be the equivalent of $400,000, was awarded several prizes by the Israeli Ministry of Economy[31] and was screened at Chicago International Film Festival, despite being a commercial failure with only 32,000 tickets sold.[32] The film was released on DVD in Israel by Third Ear DVDs as part of a boxset containing the complete filmography of Guttman[33] and an equivalent boxset was released in France by Bach Films.[34] Several nowadays notable Israeli film people, such as Rona Doron, Levia Hon, and Yoni Hamenachem, started out as crew bit parts on this film and it is said to be a big influence on Sivan Levy, who covered some of its music (such as the 1937 song My Funny Valentine by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart).[35] A main character in Guttman’s 1992 film Amazing Grace is also called Thomas, probably as homage to this film.[36]

References

  1. ↑ Leskali, Hezi (20 June 1986). האשה של אזור הדמדומים [Twilight Zone Woman (Part I)] (PDF). Ha’ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Haaretz Group’s Schocken Group. p. 32. Retrieved 4 March 2018. Leskali, Hezi (20 June 1986). האשה של אזור הדמדומים [Twilight Zone Woman (Part II)] (PDF). Ha’ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Haaretz Group’s Schocken Group. p. 33. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  2. ↑ Almog, Prof. Dr. Oz פרידה משרוליק: שינוי ערכים באליטה הישראלית [Farewell to “Srulik:” Changing Values Among the Israeli Elite] (in Hebrew). II. Haifa and Or Yehuda: University of Haifa’s Haifa University Press and Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir. 2004. p. 1164. ISBN 9789653110519. OCLC 56795640. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Orsher, Gidi. המלך הוא עירום [The King Is Naked] (PDF). Haaretz (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: M. DuMont Schauberg and Haaretz Group. October 1987. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Schnitzer, Meir. איפה אל״ף? איפה בי״ת? [No ABCs] (PDF). Hadashot (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Haaretz Group. October 1987. p. 23. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  5. ↑ Himmo, King of Jerusalem. TV Guide. New York, New York and Troy, Michigan: CBS Corporation’s CBS Interactive and NTVB Media. 1988. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Parkhomovsky, Marat. מוסקו אלקלעי [Mosko Alkalai]. Israeli Cinema Testimonial Database (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo and Jerusalem: Ministry of Culture and Sport’s Israel Film Council, Israel Film Fund, Mifal HaPayis’s Mifal HaPais Council for the Culture and Arts, Jerusalem Cinematheque, Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, and Israel Film and Television Directors Guild. 8 October 2007. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  7. ↑ Parkhomovsky, Marat (27 September 2016). טובה אשר [Tova Ascher]. Israeli Cinema Testimonial Database (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo and Jerusalem: Ministry of Culture and Sport’s Israel Film Council, Israel Film Fund, Mifal HaPayis’s Mifal HaPais Council for the Culture and Arts, Jerusalem Cinematheque, Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, and Israel Film and Television Directors Guild. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Shamgar, Irit (12 June 1986). בורגני צמוד [A Tight Bourgeois]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Jerusalem Post Group’s The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  9. ↑ Fainaru, Dan. Israel. In: Cowie, Peter; Elley, Derek, eds. (November 1986). International Film Guide, 1987. London and New York, New York: Tantivy Press and American Zoetrope. p. 218. ISBN 9780900730382. OCLC 15350659. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  10. ↑ Ferber, Nir. בר 51 [Bar 51]. Cinema of Israel (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Ministry of Culture and Sport’s Israel Film Council, Yehoshua Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts, Tel Aviv, and Mifal HaPayis’s Mifal HaPais Council for the Culture and Arts. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Ferber, Nir (22 March 2015). ההיסטוריוגרפיה האלטרנטיבית של הקולנוע הישראלי – סטריפטיז: אאוטסיידרים וחריגות קולנועית בבר 51 [Alternative Historiography of Israeli Cinema – Striptease: Outsiders and Cinematic Deviance in Bar 51] (in Hebrew). Ra’anana: Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, Language, and the Arts. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  12. ↑ Kolodney, Uri. A Different War, a Different Sex: Gay Identity Politics in Israeli Cinema and Its Relation to the Zionist Ethos. Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Karen Grumberg and Prof. Dr. Blake Robert Atwood). December 2014, pp. v, 4n.11, 15–30, 55, 57–59, 65, 67–68, 72n.203, 87n.242–88, and 92–94. OCLC 902679860. Retrieved 10 March 2018.
  13. ↑ Shamgar, Irit (12 June 1986). לא עליז [Not Gay (Part I)]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Jerusalem Post Group’s The Jerusalem Post. p. 19. Retrieved 4 March 2018. Shamgar, Irit (12 June 1986). לא עליז [Not Gay (Part II)]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Jerusalem Post Group’s The Jerusalem Post. p. 28. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  14. ↑ Kozer, Ran (1997). עמוס גוטמן: במאי קולנוע [Amos Guttman: Filmmaker] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Kozer, Ran (1997). מדברים על סרטים: בר 51 (1986) [Speaking About Films: Bar 51 (1986)] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
  16. ↑ Avitzur, Shuli (Summer 2007). עמוס גוטמן: במאי יוצר מצור(ים) [Amos Guttman: Directing Under Siege]. History and Theory: The Protocols, Volume 5 (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  17. ↑ Bursztyn, Igal (May 2009). מבטי קרבה: מחשבות על סרטים [Intimate Gazes: Thoughts About Films] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem and Haifa: Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University Magnes Press and University of Haifa’s Haifa University Press. pp. 326, 381–387, and 424. ISBN 9789654934053. OCLC 441833277. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  18. ↑ Bursztyn, Igal (1990). פנים כשדה־קרב: ההיסטוריה הקולנועית של הפנים הישראליים [The Face as Battlefield: The Cinematic History of Israeli Faces] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Hakibbutz Hameuchad–Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group. pp. 165, 182–184, and 199–200. OCLC 233061363. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  19. ↑ Cohen, Dr. Nir (October 2011). Soldiers, Rebels, and Drifters: Gay Representation in Israeli Cinema. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University’s Wayne State University Press. pp. 61–64, 67, 73–74, 135, and 208. ISBN 9780814334782. OCLC 819284363. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  20. ↑ Schnitzer, Meir (1994). הקולנוע הישראלי: כל העובדות, כל העלילות, כל הבמאים וגם ביקורות [Israeli Cinema: All Facts, All Plots, All Directors, and All Critiques] (in Hebrew). Or Yehuda and Jerusalem: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir, Jerusalem Cinematheque’s Israel Film Archive, and Ministry of Education’s Israel Film Institute. pp. 278–279 and 376. ISBN 9789652863782. OCLC 31817606. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  21. ↑ Yosef, Prof. Dr. Raz. הפוליטיקה של הנורמלי: מין ואומה בקולנוע הומוסקסואלי ישראלי [The Politics of the Normal: Sex and Nation in Gay Israeli Cinema]. In: Theory and Criticism: An Israeli Forum, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Yafo: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad–Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group, Volume 30, Spring 2007, pp. 159–187 (in Hebrew), reprinted in: Prof. Dr. Aeyal M. Gross, Dr. Amalia Ziv, and Prof. Dr. Raz Yosef, eds., סקס אחר: מבחר מאמרים בלימודים להט״ביים וקוויריים ישראליים [Another Sex: Selected Essays in Israeli Queer and LGBT Studies]. Fetish: Original Series of Cultural Critique, Series Editors: Dr. Itzhak Benyamini and Idan Zivoni (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Resling. 2016. pp. 93–126. OCLC 952528353. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  22. ↑ Yosef, Prof. Dr. Raz (January 2004). Beyond Flesh: Queer Masculinities and Nationalism in Israeli Cinema. New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University’s Rutgers University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780813533766. OCLC 231986441. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  23. ↑ Schenker, Guilhad Emilio (26 June 2017). חי בסרט עונה 3: ספיישל עמוס גוטמן חלק א [Living in Films Season 3: An Amos Guttman Special (Part I)] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education’s Israeli Educational Television. Retrieved 6 October 2018. Schenker, Guilhad Emilio (10 July 2017). חי בסרט עונה 3: ספיישל עמוס גוטמן חלק ב [Living in Films Season 3: An Amos Guttman Special (Part II)] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education’s Israeli Educational Television. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  24. ↑ Kronish, Amy W. (1996). World Cinema: Israel. World Cinema, Volume 6, Series Editor: Frank Bren. Trowbridge, Madison, New Jersey, Teaneck, New Jersey, and Cranbury, New Jersey: Flicks Books, Rosemont Publishing & Printing Corp.’s Associated University Presses, and Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 144, 180, 182, and 188n.12. ISBN 9780948911705. OCLC 568122092. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  25. ↑ Gross, Natan. הסרט העברי – פרקים בתולדות הראינוע והקולנוע בישראל: 1896–1991 [The Hebrew Film – Chapters in the Annals of Silent and Sound Cinema in Israel: 1896–1991] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Natan and Yaacov Gross. 1991. pp. 318 and 376. OCLC 27221790. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  26. ↑ Israel, Yael (3 July 1986). עכברי לילה [Mice of the Night] (PDF). Al HaMishmar (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Hashomer Hatzair and Mapam. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  27. ↑ Ingber, Nachman (10 July 1986). בר 51, אילו כולו היה כזה [Bar 51, If Only Thou Hast Been Completely Like That] (PDF). Yedioth Ahronoth (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion: Yedioth Ahronoth Group. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  28. ↑ Warth, Daniel (11 March 1986). דקדנס מעוצב [Stylized Decadence] (PDF). Ha’ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Haaretz Group’s Schocken Group. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  29. ↑ פרויקט הסרטים הישראלים הגדולים: חלק ב׳ [Greatest Israeli Films Project: Part II]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Jerusalem Post Group’s The Jerusalem Post. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  30. ↑ Parkhomovsky, Marat (1 March 2018). אחרי 70 שנה: משאל מבקרים [After 70 Years: A Survey of Critics]. Cinematheque Magazine, Volume 209 (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Tel Aviv Cinematheque and Israel Film Fund. pp. 4–9. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  31. ↑ Kronish, Amy W.; Safirman, Costel (May 2003). Israeli Film: A Reference Guide. Reference Guides to the World’s Cinema, Series Editor: Prof. Dr. Pierre L. Horn. Westport, Connecticut and London: ABC-CLIO’s Greenwood Publishing Group and Praeger Publishers. pp. 31–32, 162, and 190. ISBN 9780313321443. OCLC 845524002. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  32. ↑ Ne’eman, Prof. Dr. Yehuda Judd. Israeli Cinema. In: Leaman, Prof. Dr. Oliver Norbert Harold, ed. (October 2001). Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film. London and New York, New York: Informa’s Taylor & Francis and Routledge. pp. 245, 325, 335, and 349. ISBN 9781134662517. OCLC 45466264. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
  33. ↑ Guttman, Amos (1 June 2007). עמוס גוטמן: האוסף המלא [Amos Guttman: Complete Filmography] (DVD) (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Third Ear DVDs. OCLC 885305029. Retrieved 4 March 2018. Reported in: Yudilovitch, Merav. סיפור חייו בקופסא [His Life Story in a Boxset]. Yedioth Ahronoth’s Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion: Yedioth Ahronoth Group. 10 June 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2018. Weizmann, Daniel (1 November 2012). דיוידנדים: עמוס גוטמן – מהארון אל המדף [Dividends: Amos Guttman – From the Closet to the Shelf]. Yedioth Ahronoth’s Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion: Yedioth Ahronoth Group. Retrieved 6 October 2018. Shoval, Tom. חסד של אמת [A Truthful Grace]. Haaretz’s HaIr Tel Aviv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: M. DuMont Schauberg and Haaretz Group’s Schocken Group. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2018. Lachman, Dan. עמוס גוטמן – מארז אסופת סרטיו [Amos Guttman – A Boxset of His Collected Films]. e-mago (in Hebrew). 9 February 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2018. Reprinted as: Lachman, Dan (16 July 2007). רק על עצמו לספר ידע [He Only Knew How to Talk About Himself]. GoGay (in Hebrew). Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  34. ↑ Guttman, Amos (21 March 2014). Amos Guttman: L’intégrale [Amos Guttman: Complete Filmography] (DVD) (in French). Paris: Bach Films. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  35. ↑ צפו: סיון לוי חוזרת לבר של עמוס גוטמן [Watch: Sivan Levy Returns to Amos Guttman’s Bar]. Yedioth Ahronoth’s Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion: Yedioth Ahronoth Group. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  36. ↑ Kozer, Ran (1997). מדברים על סרטים: חסד מופלא (1992) [Speaking About Films: Amazing Grace (1992)] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 22 March 2018. הסרט הדיברות: פרויקט הסרטים הישראלים הגדול [The Cinematic Ten Commandments: Greatest Israeli Films Project]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Jerusalem Post Group’s The Jerusalem Post. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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