The Vanishing Soldier
In this tragicomedy set over the course of one day, 18-year-old Israeli soldier Shlomi runs away from his unit and returns to Tel Aviv to stop his girlfriend from leaving the country, only to learn the IDF believes he has been kidnapped.
Shlomi, an 18-year-old Israeli soldier, is hiding with his unit in an abandoned Palestinian home during an incursion into Gaza. When the rest of the unit evacuates, Shlomi stays behind, then seizes the opportunity to flee back to Tel Aviv. First he heads home, but fearing the army may have discovered his absence, he takes off again, this time to see his girlfriend, a sous chef at a fancy restaurant, who is planning to emigrate to Canada. When his mom confronts him, Schlomi tells her the truth, but shortly afterward she receives a visit from the military police, who tell her that her son has disappeared, feared kidnapped by Hamas…a version of events that will have its own terrible consequences once it becomes public. Shlomi is a man on the run (the film’s momentum is accentuated by the jazz percussion score), but he’s also a kid, racing around town on a bicycle, his rifle bouncing behind him. Until the consequences of what he’s done become apparent, he doesn’t seem to have given it much thought. Even the decision to desert was a spur of the moment impulse to escape—when the other soldiers in his unit shout, “We’re going to fight!,” he simply hangs back and turns aside.
- Original Language Title: החייל הנעלם
- Director: Dani Rosenberg
- Principal Cast: Ido Tako, Mika Reiss, Efrat Ben Zur, Tiki Dayan, Shmulik Cohen
- Country: Israel, Italy
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 98 min.
- Producer: Chilik Michaeli, Avraham Pirchi, Itamar Pirchi
- Screenplay: Dani Rosenberg, Amir Kliger
- Cinematographers: David Stragmeister
- Editors: Nili Feller
- Music: Yuval Semo
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: Israeli Film Academy 2023 (Ophir Award: Best Cinematography), Haifa Film Festival 2023 (Israeli Feature Competition: Best Film), Rising Sun International Film Festival 2023 (Best Writing)
- Filmography: The Death of Cinema and My Father Too (2020), Zohar, The Return (2018), Milk & Honey (2018)
- Language: Hebrew
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Intramovies