Writer and Director: Zohar Wagner
The name Kochava means ’star’ in Hebrew. Kochava Levy dreamed of becoming a famous writer. Instead she achieved worldwide notoriety, with Time Magazine labelling her a prostitute. Zohar Wagner’s partly dramatized documentary intended to correct that image, but it is now so overshadowed by recent events that Levy is no longer the star of her own story. The film comes with a warning that it may cause distress. Indeed, in a time wheneveryone can pick their own version of the news, few people will have an appetite for a film about a hostage crisis, especially one that didn’t end well.
In March of 1975 Levy was unhappily married. To alleviate her loneliness, she embarked on an affair with a similarly married man. Always fearful of discovery, they would meet in hotel rooms. The film shows them arriving at the ‘shabby’ Savoy in Tel Aviv, Levy puffing on a cigarette. They are only half undressed when the shooting starts. Over the next few hours Levy will discover skills she never knew she had. She finds herself bandaging severe wounds “like it’s all I’ve ever done” and foraging for food. She courageously delivers a wounded hostage to the ambulances outside, knowing she must resist the temptation to run for her life. The crucial skill she does possess is her knowledge of Arabic, learned from growing up in a poor quarter of Tel Aviv. She is therefore able to communicate with her Palestinian captors and volunteer to translate for the police negotiators outside.
It is a gripping story, even when the end is all too well-known. It relies for evidence on Levy’s diary, recordings made Robert Wagner, then a young sound enthusiast, and contemporary TV footage. The use of TV footage is mostly helpful, although it sometimes results in an almost black screen. It’s not always clear who is speaking. Is that Defence Minister Shimon Peres offering a cup of coffee?
This film is focused on a woman,but almost everyone in it is male.Like women in conflict throughout history, Levy is disregarded by both sides. The Israeli police tell her dismissively “you probably don’t speak Arabic well.” The hostage-takers assume – luckily – that she is a maid. A sexual assault is swiftly interrupted, but the threat is always there. Woven into the film are memories from Levy’s unhappy youth, including the fact that when she wanted to study literature she was “approved for cooking classes.” What seems most unjust is the contrast between her treatment and that of her lover Avi, who is feted as a hero (he got shot in the shoulder), while she is publicly scorned. Just as a recently released hostage was asked accusingly why she shook hands with he man who handed her over, Levy has to explain why she said they were treated well. In court she denies it. One wonders if Levy would be disappointed that her life after the Savoy is reduced in the film to a few sentences of text.
The dramatized parts of the film are taken from Levy’s diary. Levy is played with tough dignity by award-winning actor Dana Ivgy. Her character is constantly performing, concealing her fear, using charm to help save a life and at one point handing chocolates round, every inch the elegant hostess. The other main character is the hostage-taker called by Levy Gold-Tooth , although audiences will probably think of him as Dog-Ears because of his hat (his name was Chalil). He too is played by an acclaimed actor, Ala Dakka of Fauda. Chalil is not portrayed as a consummate villain. Levy sees him as is an exhausted , hungry and -it must be said – fundamentally decent young man.
Against a hideous political background, Savoy It is clear-eyed about both sides. We hear (in recordings from the later investigation) negotiators planning to produce a fake French ambassador; we witness a crowd jeering and spitting as the only surviving Palestinian is winched down on a stretcher. The men are unquestionably terrorists, however. Levy watches them planting the bomb which will reduce the hotel to rubble and claim the lives of most of the hostages. She is aware that “dawn brings evil on its wings.”
The UK Jewish Film Festival 2023 takes place in London cinemas from 9-19 November, with a national tour taking place from 9-30 November with a selection of films available online from 20-27 November.
