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Good start, but then it gets ruined

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

If our megaplexes would play nothing but slice of history works like KEDMA we would all be more sympathetic and compassionate. This film depicts a small slice of an historic migration that, truthfully, requires a bit of acquired knowledge by it's viewers. That said, it's almost done in realtime (which some may find boring or exhausting) and the character dialog can get a bit preachy at times. But excellent effect. Deserves reverence if only for its passion and determination. The soliloquy at the end is a bit much and mars the otherwise muted and ambiguous nature of the story of the creation of Israel. But the overall effect is quite profound. Fervor and desire by the filmmakers herein overcomes lack of technical expertise.

Kedma is not really about 1948. It uses that setting to dramatize the irresolvable conflict in Israel that if anything has increased today. It's a retrospective prophecy, explaining what's going on there now by purporting to reveal its roots.The opening scene suggests that Israel allows no personal retreat from the community's situation. An ostensibly personal moment turns out to be most public. The first shot is a woman's back as she prepares to drop her cotton slip and join her lover Yanush (Andrei Kashkar) in bed. When he shortly leaves her we see this intimacy has occurred not in private but in a crowded below-deck on the refugee ship. In the camera's slow track through the surprising crowd the personal story dissolves into the national.The film shifts from the romantic promise of that first shot into the absurdities and shock of war. The refugees -- hungry, tired, all their possessions in a bag or suitcase -- disembark into a shooting match between a hapless British military unit determined to keep Jewish refugees out of their mandate and a small, armed unit of Israelis trying to help them in.In a very reticent film, two passionate speeches carry the core: a victimized Arab's and a disillusioned Polish Jew's. Gitai gives equal consideration to the Jewish refugees and to the Arabs they displaced. For more see yacowar.blogspot.com.

I like this movie in many ways, mainly because it's honest portrayal of the creation of modern day Israel, and what happened so that nation could be born. Kedma is a powerful story of triumph in terms of surviving the Holocaust, and the story of another tragedy of those who had to endure war and more loss.The Palestinian situation is also well shown in an unbiased way. I was glad that their side of the story was shown; though by saying this I am not trying to be political. I am saying that in a war like this, both sides need to be heard to understand the tragedy of what was going on.Is this a great movie? Yes and no. The story simply dragged in too many points, spending too much time describing characters and situations. I am sure this was the director's intent and it does serve the story somewhat. I knew this wasn't going to be an action movie, however I was expecting a bit more then brief rare lines and over dramatic philosophizing. Most of the movie just seemed to empty.This would be a good movie for a class studying Israel. I would recommend it to anyone who has studied the history of the Jews and Israel.

I watched this movie on TV because of the interesting subject - the founding of Israel in 1948 or rather the immigration and war that preceded it. The film shows a group of survivors landing ashore in Palestine and their first steps in the new country. They bring all their bad history with them but are supposed to fight for their new country at once. The director raises the controversial issues of Jewish "ethnic cleansing" against the Arab population and Jewish feelings/deeds of revenge after surviving the holocaust. Unfortunately the effort is wasted on a very theatrical, sometimes dull film which was obviously made on a low budget. Also way too intellectual in my eyes, too.