Clara Hakedosha

I saw Saint Clara in Toronto during the Toronto Film Festival in 1997. It was at a theatre not part of the festival at the time but it felt like it could have been (perhaps it was the year before). As others have said, it had an odd, bleak, futuristic look and feel about it but was enjoyable none the less. I would love to find the DVD or tape so I could see it again. Bernie

I'd say this was a sweet and romantic film, almost in a John Waters style. It's refreshing, honest, and certainly endearing. Each character was a symbol of a virtue or vice, the set direction was campy, and the overall mood was hopeful in the midst of impending doom. I'd like to see more from this director.

I can't figure out if people are deliberately ignoring this movie or if they just don't get it. Frankly, I don't know if *I* get this crazy little fable about love, belonging, & identity.

Young Clara is unbelievably brilliant, and extraordinarily magical - literally - which is not necessarily a bonus at Golda MeirJunior High, which looks like post-apocalyptic public schooling even if I don't know much about Israel's educational system. Taunted by the "cool boys," who also use her to cheat on tests, Clara quickly becomes the object of the affection of one of them. What follows is stylized, visually exciting, and pretty damn cool, as Clara learns that it's love that will eventually deprive her of her super-powers. Oh, the end of the world is hinted at as well.

There's nothing specifically Israel or Jewish-oriented about this film, except the setting (unless I am missing something - a subtext?), and to me that's why it works. The directors make style a priority and the young actors (as well as the fabulous nutjob that plays Uncle Elvis) fare far better in the sincerity and believability department than any American actors. There's a human-centered element that makes this very easy to grab onto and hold.

A wonderful movie.

After stumbling upon this movie, it has turned into one of my favorites. Despite the subscripts it was still able to capture me. Almost as if I knew the language. Grant it, it's about children, but thats the beauty of it. The fact that she's magical or whatever is just a surface texture, the deeper meaning and feeling this movie brings out, is what really struck me. I urge anyone who hasnt seen it, to see it, and anyone who has, I would like to know if you agree with me. This movie happened to have a very powerful effect on me, and I think its brilliant.

Pals Eddie Tikal (Halil Elohev), skinhead wannabe Rosy (Johnny Peterson) and the boyish-looking Libby (Maya Maron) swallow some pills before entering school. Instead of going to class, however, they are summoned to the principal's office to be questioned about a strange event. It seems that the students at Haifa's Golda Meir Junior High School have turned in perfect scores on a Math test and the perplexed teacher and principal of the school are determined to hunt down and punish the cheater. The teacher asks, "Aren't you guys smart enough to make a few mistakes so we won't catch on that you're cheating?" When they find out, however, that the class did not cheat but were provided answers by a clairvoyant Russian immigrant, their authority is shaken.

Based on a novel by Pavel Kohout, a Czech writer who adapted its story from a screenplay by his wife Jelena, Ari Foman and Ori Sivan's Saint Clara is a film of surreal charm that bears comparison to Bunuel and Truffaut. While it is quirky, it is not self consciously so, and contains characters that we can recognize as real people. Contrary to typical Hollywood fare, the film shows psychic abilities such as clairvoyance to be natural attributes of the human mind, although in this case, according to a family tradition, they will last only until the young girl falls in love. The psychic is 13-year old Clara (Lucy Dubnichek), a very quiet girl with deeply expressive eyes. While she is regarded as odd by her punk classmates, they are more than happy to receive her help on their examinations and equally eager to enlist her help in planning a revolution that never quite gets off the ground.

The oddness in the film is not limited to the students. Mathematics teacher (Joseph El Dror) had a tour of duty in Vietnam where he claims that he once beat international chess champion Bobby Fischer. The principal (Yigal Naor), nattily dressed in a red suit, claims to have made love to French singing star Edith Piaf. On television, we see a weirdly dressed newswoman who constantly speaks about the impending environmental catastrophe and we learn from Rosy that the Richter scale was inspired by Marilyn Monroe. While it has its uneven moments, Saint Clara is an offbeat gem that offers with deadpan humor some intriguing insights into adolescent behavior. As Tikel becomes infatuated with Clara, the film hints at a more conventional outcome but maintains its irresistible charm and originality until the end.