Campfire takes place in Jerusalem in the 1980s, and tells of the Gerliks, an Orthodox family headed by young widow Rachèl (Michaela Eshet), mother of two daughters, young teenager Tami (Hani Furstenberg), a member of the Orthodox Bnèi Akìva youth movement, and Esti (Maya Marón), a few years older. Rachel insists on rebuilding her disintegrating family following the death of her husband and the girls' father. She applies for acceptance to a group founding a settlement in Samaria, but the acceptance committee does not want a single parent. The absence of a man in their lives exposes the Gerliks to ongoing threats and harassment from their own (Orthodox) community, whether in the form of pressure on Rahel from her settler friends to remarry, or in the form of vulgar taunts aimed at Tami by the neighborhood boys, culminating in a rape scene.But first, we see Rachel coming home from a meeting of her settlement group when she hears sounds in the stairwell. She nears the source of the sounds and through a broken window, sees Esti making out with her boyfriend. Rachel smiles at the sight of her daughter evoking such desire, enters the house, and telephones Yossi (Moshe Ivgy), a suitor, and asks him to accompany her to a settler rally the following day.In the rape scene, which takes place on Lag BeOmer, Tami – who is in the initial stages of discovering her womanhood and budding sexuality – reluctantly joins her friend Inbál (Dina Senderson) at the "rebels'" or bad boys' bonfire – which they build at a distance from the "goody-goody" bonfire – one of whom, Rafi (Oshri Cohen) Tami has a crush on. At first, they all gather around the fire and tell dirty jokes. After a few of these, Inbal wants to leave as she disapproves of the boys' behavior. She agrees to wait for Tami, who's actually enjoying herself, in a car parked nearby. As soon as Inbal is gone, Ilán (Danny Zahavi), who's on leave from the army, puts his hand on Tami's thigh. She recoils and wants to leave, but he pins her to the ground and tries to kiss her. After a few seconds, he releases her and asks her if she's alright. Frightened and crying, she gets up to leave, when Ilan seizes her from behind, twisting her arm and covering her mouth, and says to his friends, "What?! This is how you treat them (meaning women)!" Their weak protests have no effect, and they move to cheering, "Ta-mi! Ta-mi!" as Ilan forces her to touch his penis.On a visit of the settler group to the site of their future home on a wind-whipped hilltop, one of the teenage boys corners Tami and tries to get her to confirm the rumors he's heard about what happened to her at the campfire. He tells her, "It's OK. It's natural," hinting to her what awaits her when they're both residing in the same tiny, isolated community. She replies, "What? What's natural?"Campfire exposes the hypocrisy of the Orthodox community in the film, which denies and silences the rape. Tami tells no one what happened on Lag BeOmer, shutting herself in her room. Rachel, unsettled in the face of her daughter's silence, demands of her fellow community members to investigate what took place that night. Not only do they refuse, but hint that her daughter's behavior invited the boys' actions. Consequently, Rachel decides to leave the settlers' group.At the end of the movie, we see Rachel, her daughters, and Yossi – now her fiancé – happily riding in the car that belonged to Rachel's deceased husband – which had stood idle since his death – symbolizing the rebirth of the familial patriarchy. Tami's rape, which remains suppressed and unspoken of, is located in the narrative of family melodrama, and its role is dual: It serves to expose and criticize the loss of values and "departure from the path" of the Orthodox community, and at the same time reaffirms the nuclear family and mends the ideological tears in the community's fabric.

I just watched this film! Sorry it took so long. I am impressed at how the Israeli Film Industry is developing and maturing. That is the real importance of this film! Well done to everyone. The acting was great! Everyone did a wonderful job. Yes let's be honest they had a good intelligent sensitive and strong script to work with. I wasn't sure where the story would take us, would it keep within that sort of comic story-line or was it going to develop into something more dramatic? Would it go over the top, as many Israeli films have a tendency to do (mostly lack of craft and self confidence in directors and editors) or would the film develop the characters with that same strength as it started with.It just got better and better! The editing was good too - well done. I am impressed. Congratulations to the director, producers, actors, the entire crew.The politics of that era? That was a good setting and an interesting way to tell this story. It did not distract from the story, it gave it a good strong setting, it gave it a fundamental foundation on which the writer was able to develop his love of craft.The set design was good, keeping within the world of the early 1980s - yes these points are important in making a film.I enjoyed every moment of the film!!! I loved the scene where Tammy is in the apartment by herself, singing and dancing and being a teenage girl in her 'performing imagination' it was wonderful! Hani did a GREAT job!Everyone and everything was convincing. Again congratulations!

It's too easy to dismiss this film as just another dump on an Orthodox Community and/or the West Bank settlements. There really is a Bnei Akiva and settlements so I can see this kind of thing happening. Probably because I'm not Jewish I can see that the film depicts universal situations that could likely happen in any country or culture other than Bnei Akiva or Orthodox Judaism. I've been at church camps where the "bad boys" have sung dirty songs in a corner by themselves. I haven't seen sexual molestation as happens in this film but I wouldn't say that it's never happened at a church camp. Leaders all over the world try to cover up a scandal the way Motke tries, doing the wrong thing just to preserve the image of their business (organization, political movement, whatever). The search for love is the most universal desire of all. Rachel and Yossi are in a situation where it's extremely difficult to find love, when we're over 40. It happens but not often enough. This film, like many films from countries with unpopular reputations, should have gained more recognition than it did.Yehoram Gaon deserves special recognition for coming out of retirement to take on a small part in the film. He could have easily rested on his reputation but he assumes the role of a not particularly likable pompous ass and does it well. Yehoram Gaon was the teenage idol of Israel in the 1960's. He deserves special credit for allowing himself to be photographed old, balding and with his gut hanging over his cummerbund. That's real bravery. But he proves in this film he still has it as a singer in a memorable scene of a cantorial concert. Yehoram Gaon could sing chazanut to this Gentile for hours and I wouldn't mind.Michaela Eshet also deserves special recognition for her portrayal of a single mother dealing with raising teenage daughters as she simultaneously goes on the dating market after her year of mourning. IMDb doesn't list many film performances of Michaela Eshet so I must assume that her expertise comes from the stage.This is not a perfect film. The Hebrew title "Medurat Hashevet"should have been more literally translated into English as "Tribal Campfire" to provide a better description of the story line. It would have been better to see Tami's molesters punished, Motke demoted and all the other loose ends of the various situations tied up but there's only so much that can be accomplished in the standard two hours. I'll give this movie nine stars out of ten.

I've just seen the second screening of this film at the berlinale.joseph cedar is hardly known at all in germany and so i thought i'd seen one of these first'n'nice-but-well... movies - and was caught off guard. the movie tell the story of three women (mother and two daughters) living in the israel of 1981.the mother is a widow since one year and the film shows how she and her daughters cope with the situation. so the story sounds simple but the mr. cedar has found a really good way of waving backgrounds around it. as there are the settlements-movement and the male dominated society. he really manages to give an impression of a society by showing people act and live in this society.one of the best movies i saw in months!!