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Noble Savage (2018) Review

  • Lindsay Traves Lindsay Traves
  • February 26, 2020
  • 3 Minute Read
Noble Savage (2018) Review 4
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Score: 8 / 10

Teenageoptimism and unconditional family love are of the great truths and lights in the world, so any stripping of those reads tragic.

Noble Savage, the Israeli drama based on the Dudu Busi’s novel by the same name (Pere Atzil, in Hebrew), captures the tragedy of the optimism of youth lost to the necessary caring for adults. Having been nominated for Best Picture at the Ophir Awards (colloquially known as the Israeli Oscars), Noble Savage has landed on international VOD.

In his run-down Tel Aviv neighbourhood, teenage Eli (Neveh Tzur) has no reason to be idealistic, yet has unchecked optimism about repairing his parents’ broken marriage.  His mother, Sima (Liat Ekta), a recovering addict living with her new boyfriend, Yefet, and his father, Yom Tov (Alon Aboutboul), an alcoholic, live in the same complex, their lives intersecting while seeming worlds apart. Eli, who can barely keep together his unimportant young life, is set on taking care of his parents and scraping together normalcy by repairing the version of a family he deems desirable.

It’s a familiar tale of the “down and out” child taking care of flawed parents, seen in films like Fish Tank and even Kingsman, but this story is anything but a cliché. Eli appears to be desperately trying to overcome his circumstances, but he’s truly just grasping at ways to make them work for him.

I’d heard this story referred to as a Greek Tragedy, which is apt as it dances with familiar tales, and stands up as its own telling of a well-meaning protagonist tripping over himself trying to do what he believes is right. Eli’s tragedy is that he must grow quickly enough to handle the very real adult problems before him, managing his parents’ finances, addictions, and interpersonal relationships. But though he is forced to handle adult situations, he is still a child, who can’t see past the end goal of a perfect family, no matter how immature his version of that is. For Eli, the tragedy is the breakdown of his parents’ marriage and his mother making Yefet her first choice, but the story’s tragedy is Eli’s inability to see otherwise.

Noble Savage (2018) Review 2

Final Thoughts:

This beautiful tale of a broken child is almost difficult to watch, but demands your attention. It’s heartbreaking and jarring, and a successful modern take on the Greek tragedy that leaves an unfortunate child in the dirt.
Lindsay Traves

Lindsay Traves

After submitting her Bachelor's thesis, “The Metaphysics of Schwarzenegger Movies,” Lindsay decided to focus on writing about her passions; sci-fi, horror, sports, and comic books. She covers movies and games for CGMagazine and you can follow her work on Twitter @smashtraves.
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Noble Savage (2018) Review 6

Noble Savage

Director(s): Marco Carmel
Cast: Alon Aboutboul, Moris Cohen, Liat Ekta, Shira Haas
Running Time: 94 min

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