Elizabeth Stone | 07.25.2011 | The Forward

San Francisco's 31st annual Jewish Film Festival opened at the historic Castro Theatre on July 21 with the North American premiere of the Israeli film "Mabul" ("The Flood"). Winner of the best film and best cinematography categories at the Haifa International Film Festival in September 2010, and having earned six Ophir (Israeli Academy Award) nominations, this coming-of-age story centers on Yoni (Yoav Rotman), a boy about to have a bar mitzvah, and on Tomer (Michael Moshonov), his severely autistic older brother, who unexpectedly arrives home after years of living in an institution.

Directed by Guy Nattiv and co-written by Nattiv and Noa Berman-Herzberg, the film slowly reveals that the lives of the brothers' parents are fractured under the strain of unemployment, addiction and infidelity. Their mother is a preschool teacher who creates a magical fantasy world for her students but is unable to carry that beauty into her own home. Their father demands honesty from Yoni and his wife but is deliberate in keeping his own life a secret.

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