An Israeli’s guilt over an act of police brutality he indirectly caused is the crux of this drama from Idan Haguel.
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) lives with his boyfriend, Raz (Ariel Wolf), in a gentrifying neighborhood of Tel Aviv. They got a great deal — the apartment would have cost twice as much in a more central area of the city. And Ben has already done his part to spruce up the block by planting a thin tree across the street.
So it bugs him when he sees two Eritrean immigrants chatting by the sapling, with one leaning against it in a way that could snap it. He talks with them, and the issue seems resolved. But when Ben spots the man leaning again, he calls the authorities. He lies and says the city planted the tree. A little while later, out of his window, he sees one of the young men savagely beaten by police.
The guilt Ben feels over the violence he caused — it may even have been a killing; he initially doesn’t have confirmation of the victim’s fate — is the driving force of “Concerned Citizen,” an Israeli feature from the writer-director Idan Haguel. Did Ben overreact? Is he a secret racist? He mentions the incident to various people, but always fudges the specifics to disavow his involvement. He tries to sell the apartment without Raz’s knowledge.
Haguel builds this brief but densely structured film in an interestingly modular, rhythmic way, thanks to a percussive score by Zoe Polanski and occasional, abrupt cuts to black following key scenes. But the movie’s ending is far too easy: It gives Ben a second chance to prove his true values, as if the consequences of his previous failure could be waved away.
Concerned Citizen
Not rated. In Hebrew, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
