Rivka Gitai

Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitaï offers a look impressionist long history of armed conflict in their nation.

A diverse cross-section of Israeli society converges in a single multi-use building, the Shikun. As people of different languages, origins and generations come together in highly theatrical encounters, they grapple with the current state of affairs. In a poignant metaphor inspired by Eugène Ionesco’s famous play “Rhinoceros”, some begin to turn into rhinoceroses, while others resist.

In May 1948, shortly before the creation of the State of Israel, hundreds of immigrants from across Europe arrive in Palestine--only to risk arrest by British troops.