Paratroopers (Masa Alunkot)

                                        Judd Ne'eman - 1977

What is the film's theme?

This movie speaks about the training of one platoon to become a paratroopers. There are two main
figure in this film Yair (the chief of the platoon) and Weismann ( a young man part of the
platoon). Weismann seems to be a slacker and the mate of the platoon bullying him for this, but he
don't want to quit the train so he keep moving forward to his objective. Yair try to understand the
problem of Weismann but he is his superior and he can not make favouritism. Weismann start to be
psychological wounded and in a action of madness during a war exercise put the end of his life
following a bomb in a house. Yair will be investigated for Weismann's death and he think to leave
the army, but at the end he change idea and decide to stay. This film is very different from the
movies that we have seen before, it tell a story of war but it's  not cruel, it's fictionalized.

 Did Weismann (Moni Moshonov) commit suicide or was he killed in a training accident? Is it
possible to know? Argue your opinion according to the cinematic choices of the scene and other
hints in the plot and narrative.

I think Weismann commit suicide, while I was watching the movie the plot make me think that
something bad will be happen to him, there are a lot of hint during the film, the crescent tension
with his platoon's mate, the misunderstanding with Yair and his parents and the refuse of his
friend's help. There's another important hint the director make me think that he is the protagonist
for the first part of the movie, the plot turns on him.

 How would you characterize the film's narrative (the plot structure) and what is its function?
Does the structure follow a mainstream Hollywood film or an Italian neorealist film?

I think the plot have two point of view, the soldier and the commander. The soldier live the
difficulty of being a soldier, in case of Weismann is more difficult because his attitude and the
bullying of his mate, and in the other side there's the commander who have some difficulties to
keep unite the platoon and understand the problem of a problematic soldier. I think this film was
mainly related to the structure of the mainstream Hollywood movie because is quite fictionalized,
the death of the problematic member of the platoon, the commander investigate for the death, the
commander who want to leave the army after his forced stay to the training camp but when there's a
dangerous mission change idea and want to fight for his country and the "happy" ending when he
finally understand his mistakes and went back to the camp. All that things are too unreal in only
one story to be related of a neorealist Italian film, even if the plot of the neorealist film is
fiction.