Cinema
Himmo, King of Jerusalem
חימו מלך ירושלים
Amos Guttman · 1987
Synopsis
Jerusalem, 1948, during the siege of the city. In an abandoned monastery turned military hospital, Himmo Perah is being treated, who before the war was the idol of young girls. Wounded in the fighting for Jerusalem, amputated of almost all his limbs, hit in the face, he can neither move nor speak. Hamoutal Horowitz, a young volunteer nurse, feels drawn to him without being able to explain it to herself, and a troubled relationship arises between them, while jealousy spreads among the other wounded men, all in love with her.
Context
The book from which the film is adapted, published in 1966, is by Yoram Kaniuk, who joined the Palmach at seventeen and was wounded during the war. Edna Mazya wrote the adaptation; the shooting took place at the Monastery of the Cross, in Jerusalem, with Ofer Shikartsi as Himmo and Alona Kimhi as the nurse, with Enrique Rottenberg as producer and Jorge Gurvich as cinematographer. Some critics read in the bond between the nurse and the wounded man the homosexual motif of Guttman's other films; yet it is the only one that does not deal with it.
Who it is for
One hour and twenty-four minutes, in Hebrew. It is better to know that Kaniuk's book appeared in French as early as 1971, with Stock.
Prizes and reception
Shown at the festivals of San Francisco, Haifa, Chicago and Toronto, it was a failure in cinemas and received a harsh critical reception in Israel.