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Released on DVD in 2004, Eytan Fox's short 65-minute feature Yossi & Jagger emerges from obscurity as one of the sweetest romances on the gay film festival circuit. The barbed wire border between Lebanon and Israel serves as the unlikely setting for the discrete romance budding between charismatic Israeli soldier Jagger (Yehuda Levi) and his commanding officer Yossi (Ohad Knoller). Israel's compulsory conscription doesn't ensure that its military are primarily focused on the enemy; its youth have much more personal issues and dreams. One mystically concentrates on Tibetan Buddhism while another plans to open a restaurant after his creative stint of fashioning "meatball sushi" and other delicacies from meager army rations. Nearly all, however, merely want to survive their required military service to romantically pursue the future.
In their prime, sexual pursuits motivate many of the young twenty-year olds, underscored when two young women visit the outpost along with the commanding colonel (Sharon Reginiano), hoping for some sexual action. The more restrained Yaeli (Aya Koren) tells her friend Goldie (Hani Furstenberg) about her infatuation with Jagger (Yehuda Levi) and how she's determined to turn her unrequited love into a real romance. "He's not like the other guys--he's different," she explains, charmed by his natural easy going manner and the gentlemanly respect he's always shown. Of course, we already know why Jagger hasn't attempted to jump her bones. He dreams instead of travelling to the Far East and sleeping in a queen- sized bed with Yossi and introducing his lover to his parents.
Yossi isn't certain he wants to abandon military life, however, and he lives in far more fear of being outed, his paranoia most overt when querying Yaeli as to exactly what she means by he and Jagger being a "couple." Out of respect for his commanding officer/friend/lover, Jagger remains discretely in the closet--a most awkward and difficult situation in such confined quarters. Jagger's favorite song hauntingly plays over the poignant ending, an appropriate anthem for the film and for anyone struggling with similar "don't ask, don't tell" situations:
"Let's dispel the foggy curtain.
Let's stand in the light, not in the shadow.
When will we stop playing these games?
You can cry, sometimes
When something breaks inside
Tell me about the moments of fear
It's much easier to be afraid together."
In less skilled hands, the simple drama could easily fit into stereotypical gay identity and political cliché, but Fox refreshingly develops memorable characters and imbues them with life. Instead of long dialogues to describe their closeted relationship, the film finds a way to isolate the two characters naturally, and a playful snowball fight soon develops into a sensuous affair that conveys both their joy and anguish. An excellent script that avoids preaching helps immensely. One scene contains typical gay bashing dialogue, yet screenwriter Avner Bernheimer turns Jagger's "what if I were a faggot" protest into a good natured joke when another soldier comments that Jagger is "so pretty that they'd all want to fuck him."
Credit the casting here, as Levi truly is attractive and walks the fine line that his part requires--sensitively balancing a touch of flamboyance with enough masculinity to walk between the two worlds. No openly gay soldier could effectively serve as a commanding officer in any military organization that I'm aware of, and Knoller fulfills his mission admirably--subduing his emotions and subtly communicating them through small gestures, facial expressions, and his revealing eyes. Watch his face closely during the emotional finale. He literally carries this scene without reverting to simplistic sentiment by giving just the right touches during the soundtrack and a photograph that has been deftly prepared for early in the film.
The Israeli ensemble cast comes across very believably for such a relatively low budgeted project. Most have a great deal of theatrical and television experience, and the parts are relatable. Surrounded in regional conflict, the actors are familiar with the territory yet even more so with this script since it really deals more with young people sorting out their lives in a transitional stage of life. Considering the subject matter, it's a real treat to come away with the unexpected pleasures that Yossi & Jagger supply. Without dwelling on Israel's complex political situation or overtly haranguing the viewer about "gay issues," the film introduces a number of very human characters that we grow to care about. We even think about them long after the brief feature's end credits have gone by--a far more effective way to cross over to both gay and more mainstream audiences than the usual fare.
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