SODA

Israel, 2024, 96 minutes, Colour.

Lior Raz, Rotem Sela, Netta Shpigelman, Zohar Strauss.

Directed by Erez Tadmor.

Soda has two meanings for the film: it refers to the soda factory in Israel, the bottles containing the soda and their unreliability, open to explosions and injuries; and the Hebrew meaning is “her secret”, which refers to the war experience of one of the central characters, Eva.

There is a highly dramatic prologue to the film, Poland 1944, Nazi soldiers on patrol, their being caught in an ambush and killed by the local resistance – and the daughter of the central character, Esti, daughter of Shalom, tells the audience that this was the moment her mother first realised she was pregnant. Esti says she has no knowledge of this period of her initial life.

But, the action of the film is quite different, even though the memories surface frequently with some vehemence. It is the mid-1950s, a decade after the war and the resistance, refugees and migrants from Europe now living in security and some comfort and ease in Israel. It is six years plus after the establishment of the state of Israel.

On the one hand, there is the ordinary life of the town, homes and families, the streets and socialising, the soda factory. But, most of these people have experienced hardship, imprisonment and torture during the war. Tension still smoulder.

Immediately we see some trouble in the soda factory, Shalom in charge, the workers highlighting the danger of the fragile glass used for the soda – and, while the audiences may have forgotten about this, it re-emerges rather disastrously towards the end of the film.

In the meantime, we find that Shalom’s wife, who found some zest in life in the resistance, is now depressed, declining physically. She is dependent on her daughter. Her illness has taken its toll on Shalom’s emotions and, when an attractive widow and her young daughter arrive in the town, we see that he has a roving eye.

The affair is expected but what is not expected is the accusation that Eva was a kapo in the concentration camp, in Auschwitz, and she is denounced. There are, of course, many emotional repercussions, denunciation by the townspeople, a particular hatred by one of Shalom’s close friends from the resistance, Asher, who keep listening to radio programs about the finding of survivors of the camps. Rejected by Eva, he becomes a leader in her denunciation. His anger is further exacerbated by meeting with an associate from the past and learning the truth about his dead wife.

Audiences will find that their emotional response to the characters sometimes change throughout the film, some dislike and then sympathy, some sympathy and then some dislike…

While we have seen so many films about the Holocaust, this is a contribution to Israeli life post-Holocaust.

1. The title, the soda factory, the Hebrew meaning of “her secret”?
2. The prologue and tone, Poland, 1944, the Nazis, the resistance, the ambush on shooting? Esti and her comment about her mother discovering that she was pregnant? Esti knowing nothing of this life?
3. Israel, the mid-1950s, the refugees from Europe, settlers, the town, the Orange Grove, the soda factory, the homes and the streets, restaurants, views of the sea? The musical score?
4. The soda factory, Shalom and his work, the men gathering, the confrontation, the dangerous bottles, the explosion, the fight? Setting a tone?
5. Shalom and his ground, leader of the resistance, support of the refugees? His work at the factory? At home, his wife, her emotional collapse, unwell? Esti at home, going to school, the atmosphere in the family?
6. The other men, the Polish background, working in the factory? The focus on Asher, during the ambush? His work in the factory? His listening to the radio, searching for news of his wife, Shalom’s wife listening, her obsession with radio, Shalom and his disdain?
7. The arrival of Eva, her daughter, in the opposite house, at the gathering, Shalom and his gaze, her response? Indications of what would happen? Asher, the attraction, wanting to marry? Going to visit, the bunch of flowers, asking her out, her refusal?
8. The friendship between the two girls, their age, sharing, the beach…?
9. Shalom and his attraction, finding occasions, visiting the house, at the factory, the sexual encounter?
10. The visit to the restaurant, the discovery of Shalom’s cousin, his wife, marrying her in the concentration camp, Asher and his anger? Shalom organising the dinner, the cousin and his wife, the buildup to the confrontation, Asher and his anger, the revelation about the cousin’s present at Asher’s wife’s death? The later revelation that Shalom was present, his cousin disappeared, his recovering the bodies and burying them and the ritual?
11. The cousin’s wife, identifying Eva as a kapo in the concentration camp? The denial? Shalom and his belief? Asher and his spreading the news, her being shunned, the attacks, the women in the bus, he were and her daughter? Shalom and his questioning her? The witness, denying that Eva was a kapo, Shalom going to her again, her wanting to give anyone a second chance?
12. The tension, Shalom and his wife, her knowing what was happening, her going to the centre, listening to the radio, antagonising her roommate, the roommate breaking the radio, then their talking, the wife beginning to walk, her return home, intimacy with her husband? Support of her daughter?
13. The crisis at the factory, the reliability of the bottles, the dangers, the bottle in the fridge, the explosion, Eva’s injuries, hospital?
14. The move to 1957, the community, the message that he were was in Ausraltia and would welcome Shalom? His remaining at home?