‘A tale of love and dakness’

allegories and metaphors of zionism by the look of Natalie Portman

Abstract

This paper is focused on the analysis and interpretation of the film “A Tale of Love and Darkness” (2015), directed by Natalie Portman and based on the homonymous work by Amos Oz. The narrative tells the story of Amos, a boy who sees the founding of the State of Israel through the lens of his mother's and father's memories. Although the story shows traces of Amos Oz's autobiography, it is Portman's gaze that guides us through the film narrative, and from her scenic construction, emerge the images of two Israels, one that Amos's mother romanticizes and another that Amos’s father idealizes. In the analysis of this visual construction, the documentary method analysis (Ralf Bohnsack) is applied, offering privileged access to the visual discursive strategies and the different degrees of image interpretation. From the analysis of selected scenes of Portman's film, it is possible to perceive the construction of a romantic Israel, focused on the union of the Jews of the world and the building of an almost utopian community, and another realistic Israel, focused on the survival of the Jews in an increasingly violent environment, defending a cultural tradition, but also aligned with an aggressive logic, especially in its relationship with Arab neighbors. The purpose of the paper, in this way, is to point out how these constructions take place in the direction of Natalie Portman, in an analysis of the visual narrative molded by her.