Dayan - the First Family
דיין - המשפחה הראשונה | Anat Goren | Israel, 2019 | Hebrew (English subtitles) | Documentary | (Episode 1:) 90m (Episode 2:) 125m | DCP | IMDB | Distributor/Sales: Docs for Education | Festival marketing sample: MJFF 2020 | Trailer
Description: The iconic image of Moshe Dayan, the eyepatch wearing army commander and politician will be recognisable even to these with a marginal knowledge of Israeli history. Many of his compatriots have forgotten that not just he, but other members of his family played an outsized role in their country’s destiny. The Dayans were Israel’s Kennedys, according to poet and playwright Yehonatan Geffen. As Moshe’s nephew, he may sound immodest but probably not wrong. What was originally a four part television series was repackaged by the theatrical distributor into two feature length episodes. They follow, more or less chronologically, the story of Moshe Dayan’s extended family.
Episode one starts with Moshe’s parents Shmuel and Devorah, who emigrated to Palestine from Russia at the beginning of the last century and settled in the farming co-operative of Nahalal. They had three children, Zoric, Aviva and Moshe. The latter met and married Ruth who was studying in the village’s agricultural college. In 1941, fighting alongside the British, he was shot through his binoculars and lost his eye. He was plagued with chronic pain for the rest of his life. Ruth is convinced that the resulting damage to his frontal lobes changed his personality. Moshe’s brother Zoric, died in the war of Independence. His sister Aviva married Israel Geffen, another passionate militarist. They had two children, Nurit and Yehonatan. Aviva overdosed on drugs. This was not the only suicide in the Dayan clan.
Moshe’s military success during the Suez crisis made him hugely popular. He was a prolific womaniser. Ruth had a successful fashion business career. She claims to have been aware of his indiscretions but not bothered by them. With their children shunted off to boarding schools, these were largely absent parents. Rebellious and independent, Yael became a successful writer. Dashingly handsome Assi became a succesful actor and a filmmaker. Udi eventually became a sculptor. However, living in the shadow of their father took its emotional toll on the boys. The Six Day War left Israel euphoric with victory. The credit for this victory belongs primarily to Yitzhak Rabin, though Moshe ensured he appeared alongside him in a photograph staged in the old city of Jerusalem, thereby reaping much of the glory. The opportunity for Israel to dictate the terms of a final settlement with its enemies was squandered. “That war was the beginning of our [nation’s] downfall,” concludes Yehonatan’s first wife, also named Nurit. “Watching it in real time was very painful.”
Episode two charts this decline. Moshe developed an interest in archaeology. The antiquities he pilfered were soon sold abroad. Tagging their provenance from “Moshe Dayan’s personal collection” secured a premium. Moshe maintained a 16 year affair with another woman, whom he eventually married. The sons’ dysfunctional upbringing was reflected in their own dismal performance as parents. They married numerous times, womanised and neglected their children. Assi and Yehonatan took public stands against Moshe calling for a full withdrawal from the territories occupied during the Six Day War. Moshe and Golda Meir’s government refused to negotiate on that basis. There followed the debacle of the Yom Kippur War. Demonstrations took place to demand Moshe’s ouster. During one at Tel Aviv University, Assi pelted his father with a tomato. Yehonatan was traumatised by the war and turned to alcohol and drugs. His sister Nurit had killed herself a couple of years earlier. Following Menachem Begin’s victory, Moshe joined his government and helped conclude the peace negotiations with Egypt. He died after a heart attack.
Moshe left almost everything to his second wife, to the chagrin of his sons and daughter. Yehonatan and Assi campaigned against the traumatic Lebanon war. More drugs and alcohol were used to self-medicate. Moshe’s sons and nephew probably loved their children but largely neglected them. A psychologist advised Assi’s children from his first marriage to get away as far as they could from their toxic parents. Amalia lives in New York. Her brother Avner lives in Thailand. Assi met Asia, a girl he fathered during a one night stand in Italy, only five times. Lior, a son from a subsequent marriage, was given away for adoption soon after birth. Assi was already a junkie, in his words, when he re-bonded with the grown up Lior. Amalia is still upset by the memory of the two of them showing up stoned for her marriage ceremony.
Aviv, Yehonatan’s son became a rock musician. He adopted a provocative androgynous persona to contrast with the macho image of the preceding generations. In later years he reconciled with his father and even performed with him in a concert to celebrate his 70th birthday. Much of the family’s internecine rivalries played out in the press. Yael Dayan rejects the notion that her father and aunt Aviva are responsible for Udi, Assi and Yehonatan’s addictions and dysfunctions. After all, she was able to give her own daughter, Racheli, now a successful doctor, a decent childhood. That appears to have been an exception. (Yael’s assertion is not directly challenged in the film, but seems unfair given that as boys they were subject to greater pressures.)
Aviv rejects the legacy of his immediate ancestors. That is not the future he envisages for his own children. Sa’ar, Udi’s son echoes these sentiments. Listening to a radio report on a demonstration calling for the release of a soldier accused of shooting and killing an unarmed wounded terrorist, 103 year old Ruth notes in disgust: ”We are teaching our soldiers to kill. I am part of this country. But I’m not a Zionist. We don’t have the nation that we used to have. It’s not here anymore.”
Merits: Goren had remarkable access to the Dayan clan with Ruth, Moshe’s first wife and daughter Yael playing a prominent part. Nephews, spouses of his sons and many of his grandchildren also participated. Genealogical chart captions help viewers keep track of the numerous family interlocutors. Moshe’s military underling, secretary and veteran journalist Uri Avnery, a sworn enemy, provided many candid details. Extensive use was made of home movies, archival interviews, letters and many stills. “No photographer was ever removed from Moshe Dayan’s presence,” recalls Avnery with a smile. Yael, the primary defender of her father’s legacy, insisted on previewing the film. She regretted her participation and boycotted the official premiere with her mother. Despite her misgivings, this remains a fascinating portrait of this remarkable family and through them, a painfully intimate testament to the frustrated ideals of Israel’s founders.
Rating: References to suicide and to drug misuse. Partial male nudity.
Programming considerations: Episode 1 (the first two parts of the original series) has a more general appeal and has been selected by some festivals (eg MJFF) as a stand-alone presentation. Other festivals (eg TJFF) have chosen to present both episodes in one screening.