Innocence

The devastation that Israel’s militarized society causes on its youth. Told through diaries, letters and home movies, amongst other things, from young men and women who had to fulfill their military service. All the more gripping for its sober, unsentimental approach. A documentary that will leave you silent. 
 
From early on, Israeli children are prepared for the compulsive military service they must begin at 18: three years for boys, two for girls. In Kindergarten, Zohar and his classmates paint pictures of soldiers. At primary school, 10-year-old Ella is trying on military uniforms and holding rifles. It will only be a few years before they are to become real combat soldiers themselves. 
 
How that experience can be, we find out through the diaries, letters and home movies of young men and women who had to enlist. We get to know them intimately – Ron, Doroni, Halil and others. They tell us their dreams and fears, how they comfort themselves and give themselves courage. How they try to cope with becoming part of something that goes against everything they want and stand for. Also using footage of military training and real combat, director Guy Davidi (5 Broken Cameras) breaks an Israeli taboo.