MacacoBanditi Those are the kind of questions the viewing of this flick will trigger in your mind.First we see the opening titles against a black background. At 01m10s there's a close-up of Natalie Portman staring through a car window. It's raining. A dramatic 1980s pop song sang in Hebrew by a woman plays in the background. Natalie starts crying. At 04m27s Natalie lowers the car window. She keeps crying inconsolably. At 05m50s the song in the background starts to fade out. Natalie keeps crying. Crying, crying, crying and weeping. Singing is heard from what appears to be a procession or a funeral outside. At 06m55s Natalie rolls the car window up. Still crying. Shockingly, at 07m06s she says "can we go?" and then something in Hebrew. A dialogue ensues with a woman on the driver's seat about going somewhere. At 09m06s we hear the car engine starting. The car moves. At 09m50s something incredible happens: the camera position changes from Natalie's face where it had been up to now without interruption, to her p.o.v. in the back seat of the car. Now we see a road. I couldn't get past this point and decided to go out for a pizza. I recommend that you save your time and go straight for the pizza. It was the best thing about this movie.

Claudio Carvalho The confused American Rebecca (Natalie Portman) has left USA to live in Jordan. After breaking her engagement with her Israeli boyfriend, she asks the Israeli taxi driver Hanna (Hana Lazlo) to take her anywhere but the place where she is. Hanna tells her that she needs to go Jordan's Free Zone, a place surrounded by Syria, Iraq and South Arabia, to receive US$ 30,000.00 that the Palestinian partner of her husband called "The American" owes to him. When they arrive in the location, they do not find the "The American" but a Palestinian woman called Leila (Hiam Abbass). Hanna forces Leila to take her to meet "The American" in his Oasis, but when they arrive there, she is informed that his son has burnt the place, stolen the money and crossed the border."Free Zone" is a movie with great acting leaded by the adorable Natalie Portman, Hana Lazlo and Hiam Abbass. The road trip through the locations in Jordan and the soundtrack are other attractions. However, the screenplay is simply awful. Following the "Dogma 95" style, with a free handy cam, no lighting, many improvisation etc., the director and writer Amos Gitai makes a confused and inconclusive story with one of the worst opening scene I have ever seen, with Natalie Portman crying without explanation and a boring song for almost ten minutes. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Free Zone"

rakuda-1 It was a remarkable film. It wasn't what I expected from Portman. I felt for all the characters. Although certain moments were slow, and I didn't particularly like some of the unsteady camera work out the window of the car, I did like the way it moved at a pace slower than the average high speed modern film. It went at sort of a real life pace. I think Hiam Abbass was the most interesting character of the bunch. I actually wished the movie was longer. I did want to follow the lives of these characters. I liked also that it felt like these actors (with exception of Portman) weren't typical pretty Hollywood faces. I liked the credibility that that lent. Portman has a certain naturalness to her looks anyway so I could tolerate one pretty face. As an American what do I really know about Palestine besides what I see in the media? I liked the feeling of dignity that it lent to all people, and I feel for that, whether I can relate specific details to real or imagined knowledge.I think people who are used to the big production films would impatiently miss the rich and unspoken undercurrent and how it expressed what was not verbally said. It was a very humane film.

Lior Khananaev I enjoyed this movie, and Im not just saying that because Im Jewish. But things that really really ticked me off was his editing technique, especially the overlapping just made me nauseous. I need to watch this movie again because I didn't understand a lot of the things. I didn't like the ending, it kind of just put me off. Overall it was a fine movie. But can someone please explain why she ran away in the last scene, like out of no where too. The credits were messed too, with the 2 women yelling at each other, it was just pointless. If this movie had better explanation of what in the world is going on, I would had enjoyed it more. I have to compliment the acting though, it was well done. Also, some of the scenes were just way to extended. This movie is worth watching. Great morality and has deep meaning, but it still could have been done a lot better, especially when your showing tragedy in the middle east.