Free Zone

An amalgam of modern lawlessness (serving—paradoxically—as social glue), contemporary feminist can-do spirit, and cross-cultural exploration—noted Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai's Free Zone opens with Natalie Portman (Closer, V for Vendetta) crying her eyes out in an extended scene that lasts several uncomfortable minutes. We don't know why she's weeping, at first, but it sets the stage for her odd adventure as an American in the Middle East, journeying from the relative safety of Jerusalem with a female cab driver named Hanna (Hanna Laslo) into an economic free zone in Jordan where Hanna has business with a shady car dealer. Free Zone is a film of unexpected power and strange tenderness in which the two women, and later a third, find common ground in the particular miseries of the fairer sex—even those from very different backgrounds and situations. Intimately personal, yet soaring and hopeful in a broader sense, this wondrous little film is highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include an audio interview with director Amos Gitai on The Leonard Lopate Show, and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a fine film.] (M. Johanson)