I just watched Barry Avrich’s documentary The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue, now in commercial release in the Cineplex chain a few weeks after its controversial but ultimately successful debut at TIFF. Though Avrich has continually argued that the film is not political, the controversy, as well as events since October 7, 2023, make it impossible to view it from a non-ideological perspective, and ideological perspectives have influenced its reception.

In the first instance, you could interpret the film as an action thriller, with retired IDF Major General Noam Tibon and his wife Gali risking their lives to rescue their son Amir and his family from Kibbutz Nahal Oz where they are sheltering in the safe room. The film has several conventions of the action thriller genre, such as the quest, minute-by-minute chronology, and Noam Tibon’s revisiting sites of conflict and re-enacting his killing of a Hamas terrorist. In the terminology Beth Herst and I use in Public Representations, it instantiates the heroic fable because Noam and Gali, even on the darkest day in Israeli history, emerge from their ordeal having contributed to Israeli society by rescuing nine Israelis.

All of Israel are Responsible for One Another

An often-quoted Talmudic aphorism is “kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh,” which expresses the communal responsibility of Jews for each other’s welfare. That has become a foundational principle for, and a great strength of, Israeli society. Noam and Gali are racing from their home in Tel Aviv to Nahal Oz, but when they encounter a couple who have fled from the Nova festival they turn around and take them to safety in Ashkelon. When they find a soldier who is critically wounded, in the “golden hour” when survival is possible, they turn around a second time to get him to an ambulance. The demands of their own family do not outweigh their responsibility to “kol Yisrael.”

Noam Tibon, after a long delay, meets Israeli soldiers on the way to Nahal Oz. Based on his deeper knowledge of the situation and commanding presence as a senior officer, even if retired, he leads them in the fighting the Hamas terrorists who have taken over the kibbutz. Tibon did not ask the soldiers to save his family first, but rather to save the residents in order of necessity. We see here a military culture that emphasizes ingenuity and adaptation and leaving no one behind.

A key subplot of the film concerns Ilan Fiorentino, the director of security at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who dies fighting the Hamas terrorists who have overrun the kibbutz. Fiorentino’s wife recalls conversations in which she told him she was preparing to be a widow. The film often shows roadside memorials to the fallen and pictures of the hostages posted in public places. I found these aspects of the film, the significance of which most critics missed, much more meaningful and inspirational than a typical action thriller.

As the credits roll, another aspect of the film became apparent – its origin. Writer-director Barry Avrich is Canadian. Numerous leaders of the Toronto Jewish community invested in the film. It also received tax credit financing from the Government of Canada. The film debuted at TIFF. I also see The Road Between Us as an instance of diaspora Jewry, in this case major philanthropists in the Toronto community who have no shortage of causes to which they could contribute, choosing to support a film that tells a story of Israeli heroism and resilience.

Answering the Critics

Our methodology in Public Representations involves analyzing paratextual discussion of the films and series we consider. Without undertaking a complete analysis, I looked for reviews by top critics, as designated in Rotten Tomatoes. As the film has just been released, there were just a few. I view film criticism with some skepticism, because the critic is often judging a film against the one they imagine they would make about the subject.

The consensus of the top critics was negative. They felt the film was too pro-Israel. Put in terms of the hypothetical films they would make, they felt The Road Between Us focused too narrowly on the Tibon’s story, and insufficiently on the Palestinians’ story. Here are two examples. Nell Minow, on www.rogerebert.com, writes “Some viewers will argue that failing to address the underlying reasons for the attack or the response from Israel over the two years since is irresponsible, even slanted. … The larger story, the one about the failure of the Israeli military to respond quickly, about the normalization of having to have a safe room in every home, about the culture of a country where every citizen serves in the military … is what we will carry with us.” The Globe and Mail’s Kate Taylor writes “[The people in the film] never question why they need safe rooms in their houses. They describe ‘terrorists’ the same way you might describe an earthquake, as though such acts of violence do not involve a political element their government could better manage.”

Noam Tibon always refers to “Hamas terrorists,” and I have used that term as well. Taylor prefers “Hamas gunmen” and Daniel Fienberg, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, uses “Hamas fighters.” Terrorism is defined as the calculated use of violence and intimidation to create fear in a population. Hamas terrorists targeted and murdered civilians and livestreamed the murders with their body cams. Doesn’t that livestreaming, intended to terrify and intimidate Israelis, represent the essence of terrorism?

Both Minow and Taylor question the justification for safe rooms. Isn’t that obvious, given the efforts by Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, to kill Israeli civilians by missile attacks targeting urban centres or by invasion?

As I post this, an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners has just occurred. Whatever happens next, we can expect that this war will be the subject of more than a few films, and from a variety of perspectives including both Israeli and Palestinian. The Road Between Us is an early documentary about acts of heroism by Israeli citizens, whether currently or previously serving in the IDF, and it tells a different story than the media’s dominant narrative. I strongly encourage you to see it.