Walk On Water Movie Review

Walk On Water

     Walk On Water was the only film this semester we were required to watch on our own time. Walk On Water was made in Isreal in 2004. Eytan Fox was the expert who directed this thriller. The film enters with Eyal who is an assassin who is hired to kill people who are enemies of the Jewish population. He experiences hardship in his life when his wife commits suicide and it destroys him so much that his agency figure’s it’s better to give him a downgraded assignment. This is all they think he can handle – find and kill a Nazi, who just happens to be well on in years. The way he finds the old man is through getting to know his two grandchildren, Axel and Pia. Despite his initial intentions, Eyal actually becomes friends with the two people he’s trying to use to achieve his goal. There’s a fall out between the friends when Eyal finds out that Axel is gay, but eventually he gets over it. Eyal tries to accomplish his goal of killing the grandfather, but ends up not being able to do so. However, Axel ends up killing his grandfather for some reason. The film ends with a cliché ending that was a little dull, but I guess it was a good way of finishing with a happy ending.

     The theme that sticks out to me in this film the most was homosexuality. I wasn’t expecting Axel to be gay. Once we found this out, I expected that Eyal was going to be secretly gay too. So, it was shocking to see this wasn’t the case and I thought it was kind of breaking the mold. All the other themes had to do with the war and its aftermath. The gay theme also ties into the theme of acceptance of others. This film pointed out that it shouldn’t matter what someone’s income, color, ethnicity, or orientation is because we are all humans. Another theme in the film was letting go of the past. The Jews and the German’s needed to get over their past hatred for each other, even though the Jews was justified. Not judging a book by its cover was the last theme I noticed. I picked Pia and Axel and Eyal as not seeming very compatible. So, I think this goes to show that you can find friends in people you would least expect it.

     This was an enjoyable movie to watch. It actually struck some of my interests. I’m from a military family so my father’s generation was very into WWII movies, so it’s been something I’ve grown up around. This film wasn’t a war movie, but it still touched on a lot of things that films from that genre usually do. The only negative thing I have to say about Walk On Water is the ending. I could have cut it when Axel kills his grandfather. The rest of the film having to do with the epilogue was a little much. Pia and Eyal getting married, really? Since we were going by continent, I feel like I would have preferred Walk on Water over Children of Heaven. I may have liked a little action thrown into this film, instead of more suspense. Aside from the end and yearning for some action, this was a great film. It was definitely worth watching.