Bar 51 is a 95-minute 1986 Israeli English- and Hebrew-language independent underground dramatic art film directed by Amos Guttman and cowritten with and.
Synopsis
The film deals with Thomas's incestuous love for his sister, Mariana : After they arrive together in Tel Aviv-Yafo, after escaping from Migdal HaEmek due to the death of their Christian mother, Ewa, and setting up housekeeping in the sleazy side of town, Thomas makes his money as “kept man” for two different women who are nightclub entertainers at a bar filled with homosexual, deformed, and inebriated workers, Luna and Zara a.k.a. Sarah Azulay. He first attempts to work at a hotel yet is fired upon being caught stealing supplies for Mariana and has to resort to a dirty shelter. At the same time, he attracts the attentions of an amorous transvestite prostitute and stripper calling himself “Apolonia Goldstein” who allows the siblings to live at his apartment. His unnatural love for his sister goes unexpressed, however, his jealousy cannot be controlled. If his sister wants to lead any sort of a normal life, it will be up to her to break her dependence on her brother and move on. The film, developed at and distributed by, stars inter aliaAlon Abutbul, Mosko Alkalai,, and David Wilson and features music by and , cinematography by, editing by, and production by Enrique Rottenberg and. The film ends with Thomas violently raping Mariana, following by her killing him.
Reception
Journalist favorably compared this film to the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese, journalist blasted the film for its lack of “style” though he nonetheless called it one of the great Israeli films of the 1980s, while journalist Daniel Warth also noted the similarities to Fassbinder and Pier Paolo Pasolini, yet claimed that these remained on the surface only, as this film lacked a “message.” Nevertheless, more recently, it came out as the 30th best Israeli film out of 40 listed in a poll of critics conducted by Maariv, and also received two votes in a similar 2018 survey of critics. The film, whose budget was said to be the equivalent of $400,000, was awarded several prizes by the Israeli Ministry of Economy and was screened at Chicago International Film Festival, despite being a commercial failure with only 32,000 tickets sold. The film was released on DVD in Israel by as part of a boxset containing the complete filmography of Guttman and an equivalent boxset was released in France by. Several nowadays notable Israeli film people, such as,, and, started out as crew bit parts on this film and it is said to be a big influence on Sivan Levy, who covered some of its music. A main character in Guttman's 1992 filmAmazing Grace is also called Thomas, probably as homage to this film. A restaurant named after this film has opened in Tel Aviv-Yafo in 2019.
