My First Sony

Benny Barbash

Ten year-old Yotam records conversations and events in the dysfunctional life of his extended Israeli family. I was very moved by Yotam - always on the outside, recording his family's disintegration. The unfolding family feuds give an insight into contemporary Israeli society which can be difficult to follow at times but the effort is really worth it. Very powerful ending.

Extract

That night too I woke up and heard Mom and dad arguing. Mom said to dad that he was fucking up her life with all his playing around, and his walking out on us and his moods, and she was fed up, fed up: and he answered back that it was hard for him too, and he felt stifled and stuck in a rut, and his time was running out and he never succeeded in getting anything done; then she said that if he cried less over his wasted time he wouldn't waste so much time.

Parallels