Image of Victory
Image of Victory is a 2021 Israeli historical war drama film directed by Avi Nesher. The film includes a reenactment of the battle and subsequent loss of Kibbutz Nitzanim during Israel’s War of Independence and is based on real events.
The film was nominated for fifteen categories in the 2021 Ophir Awards and won three of them: Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Costume Design.
Plot
The story takes place between late 1947 and June 1948, and focuses mainly on the days before the Battle of Nitzanim and on the battle itself, at the end of which Nitzanim is conquered by the Egyptian forces and the surviving defenders are taken prisoners.A young Egyptian journalist, Hassanin, accompanies an Egyptian volunteer fighting force heading to aid the Palestinian Arabs, as a director of a propaganda film to capture an "image of victory" of the Egyptian Army. They set camp the foot of the kibbutz within which the members, together with a platoon of the Givati Brigade, prepare to defend.
Cast
Source:| Actor Name | Character Name | Character Background |
| Joy Rieger | Mira Ben-Ari | Nitzanim kibbutz member |
| Amir Khoury | Hassanin | Egyptian journalist sent to capture an "image of victory" for the Egyptian side |
| Ala Dakka | Khalif | Commander of the Egyptian force |
| Eliana Tidhar | Ada | Kibbutz member, immigrant from Argentina, Hadassa's cousin, works in the kibbutz's children's house |
| Tom Avni | Yareakh Bleiberg | Kibbutz member, dairy farmer |
| Meshi Kleinstein | Hadassa | Kibbutz member, immigrant from Argentina, Ada's cousin |
| Elisha Banai | Elyakim Ben Ari | Kibbutz member, Mira's ex-partner |
| Netta Roth | Naomi | Kibbutz member |
| Elad Levi | Khaim "J'amous" | Soldier in the Israeli force |
| Yadin Gellman | Avraham Schwarzstein | Commander of the Israeli force |
| Gil Cohen | Khabani | Soldier in the Israeli force |
| Adam Gabay | Ben Gigi | Sergeant of the Israeli force |
| Amit Moresht | "Kilometer" | Soldier in the Israeli force |
| Nir Knaan | Zigi | Kibbutz member, immigrant from Germany, pianist, Holocaust survivor |
| Yonatan Barak | Abba Kovner | Politruk |
| Hisham Sulliman | Cinema logs producer | |
| Abdallah El Akal | Salman | |
| Itamar Zohar | Romek | Kibbutz member |
| Noam Segal | Dani Ben Ari | Son of Elyakim and Mira |
| Kamal Zaid | Yousuf |
Reception
Hannah Brown in a review by The Jerusalem Post called the film "a great anti-war epic". She praised it as "not so much a political movie as an existential statement about the price paid, quite literally, for the image of the title. Image of Victory is the crowning achievement of Nesher’s career and it is the rare movie that may change the way you look at the world."Leslie Felperin of The Guardian was more critical, writing that "A film that tries to empathise with everybody runs the risk of pleasing no one, and no doubt there will be viewers enraged by this or that detail or unspoken perspective, but the ambition is nevertheless pretty impressive and on the whole well executed."