Va, vis et deviens

Live and Become

(France/Italy/Belgium/Israel, 2005, 149 minutes)

In 1984, a Christian Ethiopian refugee sends her nine-year old son to Israel to ensure a better life for him, and the boy grows up in a foster family passing as a Jew. Well-meaning but unwieldy mix of problem picture, social melodrama, family saga and coming-of-age story whose uniformly excellent performances and obvious sincerity fail to make up for strictly by-the-book plotting, overly manipulative handling and an intrusive score.

A Les Films du Losange release. Elzévir Films and Oï Oï Oï Productions present an Elzévir Films/Oï Oï Oï Productions production, co-produced by Cattleya, K2, Transfax Films; co-produced by France 3 Cinéma; with the participation of Canal Plus; with the support of Eurimages and Centre National de la Cinématographie; with the help of Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique and Télédistributeurs Wallons; in collaboration with Medusa Film; co-produced by RTL-TVI, Scope Invest; with the participation of Cinécinéma, Kiosque. Starring Yaël Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Moshe Agazai, Sirak M. Sabahat, Mosche Abebe, Yitzhak Edgar, Roni Hadar, Rami Danon. Directed by Radu Mihaileanu; produced by Denis Carot, Marie Masmonteil, Radu Mihaileanu; written by Radu Mihaileanu, with the collaboration of Alain-Michel Blanc; music by Armand Amar; director of photography (Eclair, Technovision), Rémy Chevrin; production designer, Eytan Levy; costume designer, Rona Doron; film editor, Ludo Troch.