Gender and Space in the New Israeli Cinema

The new Israeli cinema dismantles the equation created by the early cinema, that of nationhood and masculinity. At its best, this cinema does not obliterate the homogeneous Zionist identity; rather, it merges this identity into a broader dialogue of identities and voices. From this standpoint, it uses an ambivalent language that includes the self and the "other" and forces the spaces in which they exist to commingle. Instead of simplistically replacing the Hebrew masculine identity with a feminine Jewish one it integrates both identities and examines them inside and out. This cinema treats space similarly. Instead of replacing the Israeli space with an alternative space, it makes different spaces overlap and commingle. This cinema expresses the crisis in Israeli identity and the attempt to overcome it by combining and blending the spaces, nationalities, and genders created within it. The article uses the film The Last Love of Laura Adler as an example for this new cinema.