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A Bottle in the Gaza Sea(Une bouteille à la mer)

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France, Israel, Canada · 2011
1h 40m
Director Thierry Binisti
Starring Hiam Abbass, Abraham Belaga, Agathe Bonitzer, Reef Cohen
Genre Drama

Tai, a 17-year-old Israeli girl from Jerusalem, communicates with Naim, a 20-year-old Palestinian boy from Gaza, by sending messages in a bottle across the Gaza Sea as they both struggle to find their place in the world in the midst of a tempestuous cultural conflict.

Stream A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

What are people saying?

What are critics saying?

50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by

The initially cynical Naim suggests Tal's project is insignificant, nothing but a bottle of hope bobbing about in a sea of enmity – and so too this film.

60

Time Out by David Fear

The film's notion that a little understanding and a lot of e-mailing would basically solve the Middle East crisis, however, is as reductive as it is utopian.

60

New York Daily News by Elizabeth Weitzman

There are no villains here, no attempts to sway opinions or even stake out political ground. Some will find that a disappointment. But the truth is that this effort is both more evenhanded than most dramas with similar themes, and more open-hearted.

60

The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck

Ultimately A Bottle in the Gaza Sea adds little insight into a conflict that has already inspired several powerful dramas, such as the recent "The Other Son," and is sadly likely to be the subject of many more.

70

The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis

Fueled by neither anger nor religious extremism - the director, Thierry Binisti, remains rigidly nonpartisan - "Bottle" is a gentle pairing of youthful idealism and tenacious hope.

50

Village Voice by Jon Frosch

Although smoothly directed, A Bottle in the Gaza Sea has little visual personality or dramatic urgency. What might have been a tough and adult take on a bond full of hope but thwarted by war plays more like an after-school special.

75

New York Post by V.A. Musetto

Directed and co-written by Thierry Binisti, a TV veteran, the film boasts solid acting (especially from red-haired Bonitzer) and handsome cinematography.

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