Jewish Life Digital Edition November 2014 | Page 21

natural resources. ‘Beneath the Helmet’ is
all about dispelling that image – at least
for the young heroes and heroines who
put their lives on the line for the sake of
the Jewish people.

FACING THE FACELESS
‘Beneath the Helmet’ is an extremely important film for Jew and non-Jew alike, as
it sets aside the fraught politics of the region to tell us the story of five young soldiers and the way they respond to the call
to defend their country, their homes, the
lives of families and friends, and ultimately, the future of the Jewish state itself. It’s
the story of how these kids who have not
yet had a chance to so much as begin to
live their adult lives, put their futures on
hold and their lives on the line for something that is bigger than themselves.
More than anything else though, ‘Beneath the Helmet’ is, in essence, the story
of five perfectly ordinary, extraordinary
kids. Take Sergeant Coral Amarani, for example, who is easily the one of our five
main ‘characters’ with whom we spend
the least amount of time. Here is a vivacious, lively young woman whose free
spirited, feminine nature remains intact,
despite the fact that her original plans to
evade army service fell by the wayside, as
she instead went on to become a drill sergeant at Michlei Avon, a pre-basic training programme.

Or how about First Lieutenant Eden
Adler, the 21-year-old, newly-appointed
officer, who is directly responsible for the
training, safety and well-being of 42 recruits and three sergeants – and in whose
company we actually spend a good portion of the film. We learn not only of
Eden’s thriving family life, but also of his
incredible transformation from ADHDsuffering, ‘problem child’ into a confident,
highly respected young man, with more
responsibility placed on his once-shaky
shoulders than most of us could even begin to imagine.
And then, of course, there are the three
recruits at the centre of the documentary –
three fresh-faced kids straight out of high
school, each of whom could not be more
different from one another. Eilon Kohan, a
native Israeli who was born and raised in
Ashdod, is the light-hearted joker of the
group, but who nonetheless views his service with a certain wise pragmatism;
whose repeated refrain of, “We don’t want
to be here but we have to be so we are,”
serves as the steady backbeat of the film.
Mekonen Abeba, a quietly-spoken Jewish immigrant from Ethiopia, on the other hand, has had to provide for his family
ever since his father passed away just before they left Ethiopia – a fact that is both
complicated by his army service and, in
one of the film’s most moving moments,
alleviated by his brothers in arms.

Finally, we have Oren Giladi, a lone soldier (a soldier who does not have any direct family living in Israel) from Switzerland, who leaves the comforts of his apparently wealthy family and peaceful
country to serve and protect the Jewish
state. “I love Switzerland, but Switzerland
doesn’t need me, Israel needs me,” he
says. And, when you consider just what is
asked of these soldiers, both in basic
training and, of course, even more so in
active duty, the fact that he does this voluntarily is all the more incredible.

THREE KIDS, ONE PEOPLE
These three recruits could not be more
different from one another, but even as
we learn about their differences, the overriding theme of Jewish unity starts to
make itself more and more apparent.
Here are three Jewish kids who are often
radically different in background, in temperament, in personality, in level of religious observance, even in race and country of origin, who are bonded together by
a common goal – and, perhaps most importantly, by their common Judaism.
On a micro-scale, this may be a story of
three kids overcoming their differences to
work together, but it’s actually about
something far greater; far more profound
than that. While we were blessed (or, considering the circumstances, is that
cursed?) to see Jews of all shape and stripe

JEWISH LIFE

ISSUE 79 17