Martin Kubina

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Fellow Travelers (Magash Hakesef) Judd Ne'eman -1983


8) Is there any connection between this film and Ne'eman's previous film Paratroopers? How are they
connected?


I see some connections between the films in unclear circumstances of the death scenes. In
Paratroopers it is unclear whether Wiesmann killed himself intentionally or not, and in the end it
does not much matter for the rest of the story, because this uncertainty is driving force for it.
In Fellow Travelers we can not be sure about some circumstances of both death scenes, especially in
case of death of main character. We cannot be sure, who actually killed the character, because he
was shot twice almost simultaneously, and in the end it does not much matter who shot him first –
main character dies and the film ends. There is of course big difference in a function of this
uncertainty, because in the second film it does not stimulate further development of the story.
Thus in the first film the uncertainty is a tool for further development of the story and in the
second it is just side effect of a decision to use the death as a metaphor. But still there is some
connection in uncommunicativeness of both film about some events in fabula. In the first film these
unclear moments are mainly dependent on the uncertainty about the death scene. In a case of the
second film, creators just decided not to explain some events, like alleged death of one character
in Germany.

Second obvious connection is Masa Alunkot, who played one of main characters in Paratroopers and
who played main character in Fellow Travelers, therefore there might be some connections among the
characters, but I am not aware of any significant.