Family Politics Israeli Filmmaker Nir Bergman Explains Making ëBroken Wingsí by Ky N. Nguyen Recently at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, The Washington Diplomat interviewed young Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergman. Modest and soft-spoken, he looked forward to a drive by the White House. His first feature, ìBroken Wings,î won nine Israeli Academy Awards as well as jury and audience awards at festivals worldwide. A box office success, ìBroken Wingsî is notable for avoiding direct mention of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ìWell, I had a personal story that I wanted to tell,î the rising director explained. ìëBroken Wingsí has political aspects, of course, but itís not about politics. Itís about a family. It is probably strange for people outside of Israel to imagine life in Israel. We do go through emotions like love and hate. We do have relationships with our parents and inside the family like every place else.î Bergman added, ìI donít think itís really strange for Israelis that the film is not about the conflict because we live the conflict in every day of our lives Ö from the first day of our lives in a way. My first memory as a kid was at 4 years old. Nineteen seventy-three was the Yom Kippur War. My first m emory was going to the shelter with a blanket because there were bombs. ìMy memory from being 10 years old with my parents going through a total breakóand crashing the family by divorcingóinfluenced me much more as a writer. Thatís the plain truth,î Bergman said. ìWe have a lot of experiences that are connected to the conflict, but we live in it in our day-to-day lives. Every one of us has his opinion about the political situation. I donít think Iím really able to tell anything new to Israelis about the situation because each one of us has at least one opinion about the situation Ö and maybe two. We have this relationship with our country, some sort of love and hate relationship Ö all of us. I was committed to tell this story. In a way, it could happen anywhere outside of Israel. Itís totally cosmo-political.î Bergman continued, ìYou can feel how intensive the story goes. You can feel how intensive these characters are and how worried you are for them. Although you donít see the conflict, you just worry. Maybe the story could be told only in Israel. Itís the way that itís toldómaybe thatís what makes it Israeli. Itís not the story, because the story could be told anywhere.î The director ruminated on the filmís popularity. ìI think the characters are really lovable, really. They need a hug. Theyíre asking in a very polite way from the audience for that hug,î he said. ìTheyíre not like jumping on you and saying, ëHug me. Hug me.í Theyíre so tough on themselves, and they donít really treat themselves in such an emotional way. Theyíre tough, but they really need that hug. And weíre all a bit like that, so I guess that crosses [to viewers].î Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.