Short Film Review - Strangers

Strangers, the short film written and directed by Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv, tells us the story of how our enemy’s enemy can become our friend.

Two strangers sit opposite each other on a train. They eye each other critically. Then we see a close-up of the newspaper one of them is reading: It is in Arabic. The other notices this and pulls from under his shirt his Jewish necklace. They remain silent, as the train pulls into the next station. Here things get tense, when a gang of white men position themselves in between our two main characters. The gang makes it clear they don’t like “those people”, and one of them even spray-paints the Nazi symbol on the newspaper the Muslim was reading. They know there is no way out alone, and with another look between them, they realize they need to find a way out together.

            The film is structured into three main parts: The beginning with our two characters silently judging each other. Then the gang walks in and tension builds. The final sequence where they work together rushes and swooshes past and effectively releases all the tension that has been building from the beginning, which is the way it should be.

            It is more about the story it’s trying to tell than about the characters themselves. It could have been told in many other ways, but that doesn’t mean using religion as the catalyst doesn’t work. It actually works great, and setting the situation on a train was a very smart decision: We know they can’t escape until they’re at the next station, and even then they only have a minute to get out of there. It is a well-made short film with something to say. What more can you want?

Grade: 7/10