Broken Wings is the moving story of a family coping with tragedy. When the patriarch of the family dies unexpectedly, the mother and her four children try to come to grips with the loss, each in different ways, each equally heartbreaking. As the family crumbles, it quickly becomes apparent that there are no easy answers in managing intense sorrow and suffering. The film's success is due to a script that is insightful and honest without ever becoming maudlin and the performances by the cast, especially that of Maya Moron, who is nothing short of remarkable as the oldest daughter who desperately tries to hold the family together.

A family in a slight crisis as a single mother and her three kids are trying to cope. It's not much money and there are few positive features here. They struggle but stay togheter, but they really need to heal their realations. Not a fantastic film, but it's solid on many levels. OK story and good performances here. 6 out of 10 broken engines.

Powerful yet quiet film about grief.

A very touching story, it is easy to fall in love for these characters that have nothing special. The linking of the events can lead others and create a real drama.

A simple story that touches you

It was good! I liked it, but it had a very down beat to it. Everyone in this little family is having a crisis all at the same time.

Great movie! Though you might question several flaws in this family, the final spin leaves you content that above all, love inside family can conquer all obstacles.

An Israeli Family lost the father in a very weird accident, and now they are struggling to not fall apart. The mother (Dafna) is having financial problems besides the fact that she is very depressed. Maya, the artist, was able to express her feelings in her lyrics but she can't sing them because she has to help her mother take care of her siblings (Bahr and Ido) while her twin brother (Yair) is more and more disconnected from everything. They are all exhausted and trying to believe that it could be worse in order to survive... Indeed, it could be worse, and they will have the chance to realize that. No doubt that this movie is a masterpiece.

Powerful movie - nice blend of believable plot, tough love revelations & too few amusing moments like the older brother & baby sister eg I didn't wet the bed last night. Oh well, you probably will tonight - reminded me of the equivalent in Little Miss Sunshine. The brother's basketball sequence in the hospital blew me away & great editing in cutting to the mother-daughter before it'd resolved. Just a pity it was so unrelenting.

<a href="http://cooltext.com"><img src="http://images.cooltext.com/2034730.png" width="112" height="36" alt="My Review" /></a></a> <b><i>"You're a speck of dust in an expanding, crazy universe. Your life is such a tiny dot in time that it doesn't exist. It's like a three-pointer."</b></i> After the death of her beloved husband, an Israeli mother fraught with grief works double shifts in a hospital as a midwife to support her four children. As family members struggle to piece together their shattered lives, misfortune deals them an even harsher blow. But this time, a crisis has driven them together, rather than further apart. Released on October 24, 2002, <i>Knafayim Shvurot (Broken Wings)</i> was an official selection of the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival and winner of nine Israeli Film Academy Awards including Best Picture. I wanted to find a really good movie from one of the nations in the Middle Eastern film industry as well another good sad title to get me into the viewing experience, and now I have found this one. I was moved by the emotionally-driven storyline as I watched it twice and understood the plot and the relationships between our characters. The acting performances here are skillful as each of the players involved have strong personalities. Along with Orli Zilberschatz-Banai who makes her Dafna character friendly but curious, Maya Maron feels the most guilt (and she even sings beautifully), Yair is fatalistic as a school dropout, and Bar who feels woefully neglected. And last but not least is Ido who is being bullied that filming himself doing dangerous stunts on camera is the catalyst of the crisis here. <a href="http://s955.photobucket.com/albums/ae34/radboviemiot/Movie%20Posters/?action=view¤t=broken.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i955.photobucket.com/albums/ae34/radboviemiot/Movie%20Posters/broken.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> Overall, I can say that <i>Broken Wings</i> is an excellent, wonderfully made film title of loss and family drama. I recommend it to fans of foreign cinema.

Simply too much sadness and a choice of ALL life problems a family of problem-filled individuals can't be healthy. If you want to observe how they are trying ... feel welcomed - prepare some tissues though.

A wonderful film! A powerful story about a family trying to get by after the death of their father/husband. Maya Maron gives a fantastic performance as Maya Ulman, a gifted musician who is torn between her dreams and her loyalty to her family. But the popcorn bag award goes to Orli Ziberschatz-Banai. You forget that she's acting and that this is a movie. Ziberschatz-Banai is fabulous...displaying all the emotions of a single mom under pressure and stress to make it all work.

El retrato de la familia de miembros inconexos es muy interesante y está bien logrado. Es una historia triste, pero entretenida.

I haven't seen that many Israeli films. Not that many make it west, for that matter. But, standing out as an impressive story of a family in grieving, Broken Wings makes me want to see more. I was first drawn to the film 5-6 years ago when I saw a trailer for the movie on my Good Bye, Lenin! DVD, but I could never find it in stores. Just the other day, I was fortunate to come across it in a local Hollywood Video's foreign film section, which I made a point of raiding since they were going out of business and selling off their whole stock dirt cheap. What a good investment this was. As a story centered around family, the characters that make up this family are the film's cornerstones. Every single cast member is nothing short of perfect for their part. As important as Orly Silbersatz Banai and Nitai Gaviratz's characters are, though, it's Maya Maron who handily carries the film, the character Maya acting as the central character upon whom it fell to keep the whole family together. Each of the primary characters had their own subplots with realistically written and well added supporting characters to interact with. The young children were less developed, but no less important to the overall core of the story. Every character is sympathetic and human - they're all flawed and they're all hurting, but you can't help but love them. The cinematography is wonderfully done, casting the Ulman family's story against the background of urban Haifa. It's always interesting for me to see the landscape - urban and beyond - of other countries, and Israel's is captivating in itself. And the musical score is excellent as well. The original background music is fairly minimalistic, but all suits the film perfectly, working as a mood builder- particularly in the tenser scenes. The musical performances with Maya and her band are beautiful. Even more impressive yet? The writing and direction. Nir Bergman managed to write a complex, emotionally conflicted family drama full of three dimensional characters with their own concerns and subplots and managed to convey the entire story in less than 90 minutes. Most filmmakers would struggle to tell a story this emotionally rich in two hours, let alone what Bergman pulled off. And this was his debut film, no less! Incredibly impressive. From every angle, Broken Wings is a stellar piece of cinema. It doesn't break any new ground or attempt to tell a story the likes of which we haven't seen before, but that doesn't matter. It tells the sort of story it does with a deftness most filmmakers lack, and presents us with a group of characters all appreciable as individuals and irreplaceable. This is their story, not that of any other family coping with the loss of a father. And their story is one worth taking in and experiencing. Much of life, and in particular, youth, centers on the individual's search for meaning. This search plays a key role for each of the characters in Broken Wings, each taking their own approach to the search for what it means to be themselves and what they're supposed to do, as they each attempt to avoid being crushed completely by grief. What we get out of that is a beautiful, enriching cinematic experience. Do not miss Broken Wings.

One of the best Israeli movies of all times. Bergman sure knows how to tell a story.

A concise but very effective little, humble movie. The movie shows how death of a family member can affect differently to other members of family. Ending is just so beautiful. 17 year old eldest is just a baby to mother after all. Ahhh... Thank you Jenine for recommending this beautiful movie.

Le film demarre lentement mais sans aucune complaisance, parvient a nous emouvoir au fur et a mesure sur le sort ordinaire d'une famille dechiree. Il montre en filigrane une societe en crise et un gouvernement qui neglige le social pour privilegier l'oppression d'un peuple ...

<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i29.tinypic.com/ixguwl.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> Broken Wings was a movie that was based on daily life problems.. The characters were so real. The script included teenagers insults that sounds so true and images that stays in your mind, as you see this family in its struggle to get their life back. I liked the performances of all characters, Israelian director Nir Bergman did an amazing job. The music in the movie was great. All in all, a good movie. A must to see.

Nir Bergman, developer of the original Israeli In Treatment series, deals with some major existential issues in his debut feature, such as coping with loss and the burden of responsibility. So far so good, but add some teen angst, juvenile rock 'n roll dreams and a bit of pondering over this shitty existence as a whole and you'll have a pretty pretentious and fairly uneven movie. But the way things work out is admittedly kind of cute, so this thing will probably work for the emokids.

a touching family movie about an israeli family losing father-falling apart, Maya is to be blamed to be the cause, and Ä°do's coma put them together back...