The Binding (Hebrew)

Seems like this has become a trend to make films based on true stories and why not! They add a certain authenticity and people are likely to connect more with such stories. This film set in Tel Aviv about saints, sinners and sex is an interesting addition to this list. Treading on the fine line of sexuality and religion in the country, we get to see a facade where certain self appointed religious leaders will go to any extent, in the name of love and God, to treat people and absolve them of their 'sins'.

We meet our hero Binyamin, who is only into BDSM sex and doesnt enjoy it until someone physically hurts him. We se this in a couple of explicit sex scenes. He lives alone having moved away from his family. Over time we get to know that the is trying to remove himself from a trauma of accidental death of his brother for which he blames himself and also the fact that his family never approved of him being gay. He meets a nice new neighbour he likes, but their thing doesn’t immediately work out because the neighbour doesn’t like BDSM. He now works in a bar as a bartender, that is owned by a religious man in his late 40s or early 50s. The boss teaches religion to young men on the side. At first this owner seems to be a delightful person, who once saves Binyamin from almost getting raped. Putting a God-centric spin on life, he seems to be protective of his young employee who’s out to be screwed by every gay man in Tel Aviv. One night when the boss is attacked, Binyamin brings him home and they have religious discussions and Binyamin sees in him a father figure of sorts. Next day when they meet for a drink, our hero passes out only to find himself locked in a dungeon. This is when the real motives of the boss come out. The religious man that he has, he apparently has cured himself of gay thoughts and now wants to save Binyamin using electric shocks and other ways by keeping him locked up in some random jungle. Of course, eventually Binyamin manages to escape and the boss kills himself but not before realizing the meaning of true love and that he doesn't have to get himself hurt to feel loved. 

I am honestly not very sure how I feel about this film and the execution part. It's a bit of an oddball film which is provocative, thoughtful and teasingly puzzling. It has more than a couple of very explicit sex scenes, a dingy doom atmosphere when he is locked up and two very bold performances by his leading men. The film sort of moves on the periphery of religious fanaticism while never really addressing the actual issue, which makes the film both challenging and slightly disturbing to watch. It delves into self-hatred, sex addiction, damning dads, conversion therapy etc and fees like it is all over the place. What would have been interesting is to get more into background of our lead actor. Why does he have his own portraits in his apartment, why is he so addicted to sex, (We do understand the guilt part eventually), the kosher prejudices or him being anti-religious or stuff like that. The two lead actors do a brilliant job and act their part. You connect with them and you don't see it coming when boss kidnaps our lead. They also do share a decent chemistry. The sex scenes in the film were plenty. Whether they needed to be graphic or not is debatable, but personally I did not enjoy them much. Sadly, the film is not particularly entertaining or enjoyable, though it is packed with interest and is a decent one time watch. For a country like Israel, which is considered to be most open hen it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, stories like these set in today's times is still a reminder that anti-LGBT incidents are still on a steep rise all over. (5.5/10)