Efes beyahasei enosh
Tags: comedy, satire, entertaining

Plot synopsis:
Zohar (Dana Ivgi) and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) are returning to Shizafón, their middle-of-nowhere IDF base, where they work in Personnel along with Irena [why isnt this great actress credited?], two ditzes who spend their waking hours singing duets at annoying volume, and various other incompetents, all commanded by the Nurse Ratched-like, gung-ho, drank-the-IDF-Kool-Aid Rama.With Zohar's aid, Daffi, who's miserable as Chief Paper Shredder of the unit, has composed numerous appeals to headquarters to be transferred to the Kiryáh in Tel Aviv, where she fantasizes about lunching at Azrieli Towers...except that unbeknownst to Daffi, Zohar never sent any of the appeals: She doesn't want Daffi to get transferred, as it would leave her friendless at Shizafón.As the busload of soldiers enters the base, a new girl taps Daffi on the shoulder and asks her where Personnel is, upon which Daffi promptly decides that her appeals to be transferred have been answered and New Girl is her replacement; and Daffi immediately begins training New Girl to take over her job.That night, Eitan [uncredited] and his girlfriend are making out in his quarters, and there's a knock at the door. He quickly covers up his girlfriend [notes of Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer ] and gets up to answer. It's New Girl, who had a fling with Eitan the previous summer and has been obsessed with him ever since. She's not a soldier; she borrowed an IDF uniform and entered the base unauthorized [notes of Hair] in order to see him. When she lunges at him and declares her love, Girlfriend emerges from her hiding place, devastating New Girl, who runs out in tears and proceeds to use a box cutter to remove her tattoo of Eitan's name. The following morning, the girls awaken to a pool of blood and a dead New Girl, for which Rama blames the entire Personnel team.That night, Zohar's bed collapses and she refuses to sleep in the only vacant bed -- that which had been assigned to New Girl. Exasperated, Irena moves to the vacant bed and during the night is visited by New Girl's ghost, leaving Irena catatonic and non-functioning.Her imagined replacement dead, Daffi decides her only ticket to the Kiryah is by going off to officers' training, which she completes by the skin of her teeth, and gets assigned not to her longed-for spot at the Kiryah, but to replace Rama at Shizafón, on notification of which she bursts into tears.Meanwhile, lonely and at loose ends without Daffi, the girls have begun to taunt Zohar for being a virgin, so Zohar decides to rectify her situation. She seduces a reservist and arranges to meet him that night, telling Rama that Irena ought to see medical personnel, and offering to accompany Irena to the infirmary, to which Rama agrees.Zohar's date attempts to rape her, except just as he's getting ready to enter her, a shot is fired by Irena, who had followed them and grabbed his gun, which he'd tossed onto the ground in blatant contravention of strict orders. Aiming his gun at him, Irena orders him over to a waste can, where she orders him to ejaculate into it, "Just like what you were about to do to Zohar". He promptly vomits into the waste can, upon which Irena throws his clothes and gun at him and orders him to leave the base.As a shaky Zohar and a back-to-normal Irena are returning to their rooms, they encounter Rama, who asks them what they're doing outdoors. Zohar explains, and Irena claims she has no idea what Zohar's talking about. Rama dismisses Irena and punishes Zohar for being AWOL by assigning her the all-night task of cleaning and organizing the Personnel office, including "getting rid of all superfluous paper".The following morning, Rama comes to inspect the office to find it spotless...and every single sheet of paper, including all the soldiers' files, shredded and stuffed into her own office. Rama runs off screaming hysterically, realizing her army career is over.Meanwhile Daffi arrives to replace Rama and is now commander over her former fellow soldiers, who treat her like a joke and don't accept her authority over them. To show Daffi who's (not) boss, Zohar prints out multiple copies of all of the transfer appeals she composed for Daffi but never sent, and posts them all over the base, where they provide entertainment for all at Daffi's expense.Daffi decides to avenge the humiliating prank by deleting all the games to which Zohar is addicted and which have served as Zohar's lifeline to sanity. As she's doing so, the two get into a staple gun fight, and it's discovered by the base IT guy that instead of deleting the games, Daffi accidentally deleted all the soldiers' files, so now there're no records, either electronic or paper, as the paper files were shredded by Zohar.Daffi and Zohar make up while in detention [notes of Parent Trap] and are treated for their staple wounds in the infirmary, where Zohar spends the night with IT Guy, with whom we see her snuggling the following morning. The story ends with Zohar getting discharged and alighting from a bus in Tel Aviv, with Azrieli Towers on the horizon.

Review: So when I saw the movie's summary about a group of women being pencil pushers in the Israeli army, I was expecting something far different.
My perception (which I got from movies) of the Israeli army is that every one who comes out of it seems to be real bad ass.
The movie tells three different stories about different types of women in the army.
A story of a woman who wants to be in command, a woman looking for a nice job in a nice place, and a woman who can't wait for her service to end.
Maybe it was a combination of the writing and the acting, or how the movie was edited to focus on the main characters and tell their stories.
Not knowing much about military service in Israel, I will assume the picture is displaying the emotion of what it's like to do it.
I was ready for some comedy and the Israeli movie "Zero Motivation" way exceed my expectation.
In addition to a great script, with a well- organized and tightly structured plot, it is filled with black comedy, feminism, friendship, and work ethics wrapped with a little nudity and horror, all done with a limited budget.
The movie was divided into three parts which are linked together by two central characters, Daffi (Nelly Tagar) and Zohar (Dana Ivgy), both young female soldiers working in the administration department of a military base in the middle of the dessert.
They are among a group of equally demotivated female colleagues supervised by ambitious but frustrated Captain Rama (Shani Klein), the only female officer in the management team.The film starts with good friends Daffi and Zohar reluctantly return to base after a short break.
Daffi, a clerical worker in charge of paper and the shredder, is tired of being stuck in the dessert and wants to be transferred to Tel Aviv.
Comedy erupts when a new comer Tehila (Yonit Tobi) enters the camp and Daffi treats her as her replacement until something tragic happens.
In the second part, Zohar is obsessed about losing her virginity but she exercises her independent thinking and receives help from a fellow colleague who asserts the female ego.
Then everything ends in a reasonable and interesting wrap up.I would not divulge too much plot as it will spoil the fun.
But I can guarantee that it is packed with jokes and laughter while making you think about the absurdity and blessing in life, while pondering on gender roles.
Perhaps the only short coming is the military setting which is hard for most international audience to identify with.
truly, the greatest israeli film of all time.
i will admit, i'm an Israeli guy and i think that the film industry in my country still has a lot to improve when it comes to quality, to meet with other countries standards.
in the last 5-6 years, there has been a huge improvement in film editing.
Israeli films used to be about drama and comedy, there almost hasn't been any thrillers or sci-fic but now we get the chance to enjoy new styles like "vals with bashir" which is an academy award winning animated Israeli film, or "bufor" - military thriller ,"big bad wolves" - an amazing high quality horror-drama, all are big budget films.the lately "zero motivation" ('efes be'yahasey enosh' - zero in social skills) is the most entertaining Israeli film i've seen so far.
it's about 3-4 IDF female soldiers who work in office of their military base.
the film is hilarious from beginning to end.
the film is a huge box office hit in Israel, on the top of the charts for more than 2 months already, and receiving a 90% positive reviews from critics and regular watchers.
to make a long story short, if you are looking for 2 hours of sweet drive, this is the one for you.
What with the delicate balance of comedy and drama, when the girls start duelling with staple guns you truly aren't sure whether somebody's going to get terribly hurt or not.
I've never been a fan of Dana Ivgy, sullen and sulky as she always looks, but the role here fits her; and it's a nice script, divided into ostensibly separate chapters but surprising the audience with links between them and not ending before even the shrewish valkyrie of a desk officer has been vouchsafed a moment of sympathy from the audience.
Zero Motivation follows in the tradition of Catch-22 (1970) and M*A*S*H (1970) by exploring the understated banalities, vulgarities and absurdities of military life.
Much like those films, we follow a congress of loosely connected characters, none of which approach their jobs with any kind of pride or relish.
Slight difference in this case, is the majority of the films denizens are Israeli women and not American men.The story is divided into three vignettes largely following the quiet and diminutive Zohar (Ivgy) and the rebellious Daffi (Tagar).
On their way back to base they meet Tehila (Tobi) who Zohar mistakes for a replacement thus making her dream of transferring to reality.
The second story involves Daffi's fruitless quest to loose her virginity which has disastrous consequences on her unit, including and especially Rama (Klein) her superior officer.
The last story sees the unintended results of Zohar's constant schemes to leave her isolated base for a cushy position in Tel Aviv.The rest of the ensemble includes Russian transplant Irena (Klingon) and twitty songbirds Livnat (Twito) and Liat (Gal), who fill out the rest of the unit like glitches in a computer program.Though if one were to point to a standout performance it would be Shani Klein as Rama.
Especially when faced with the one-woman agent of chaos that is Nelly Tagar's Daffi.Each vignette ends in much the same way; ironically and with a darkly humorous twist where no one is a modicum happier.
Even those who have never experienced Army life (or been a woman) will find a lot to love about Zero Motivation.
When the plot isn't grinding hopes and dreams into a fine powder, the girls occupy their time with various distractions, the most coveted of which is Daffi's Minesweeper game.
It's sad, bordering on pathetic yet when something as inconsequential as a computer game is the only trinket tethering your sanity, you'd want to hold on to it too.Darker than Stripes (1981), funnier than Catch-22 and way more concise than M*A*S*H, Zero Motivation is a fierce, fun little satire made all the more relevant coming from a country that has only known war since its inception.
Check out this Israeli import if for no other reason than you'll never look at a staple gun the same way again..
In Talya Lavie's film there is a scene where a male soldier tells female conscripts about his recruit training.
Because the officers were like the Nazis, he goes on.
But funny it is, when told by a Jew in Israeli Defense Forces uniform to other soldiers.
The humour in this film relies on unlikely and sudden contradictions such as this, which is pretty much the definition of a farce.
Some reviewers here have obviously not recognized this genre and have not expected the unexpected which this film delivers in plentiful doses.
If you ask a cinema lover about Jewish humour, she or he probably first thinks of Woody Allen telling a joke about God, and why not - but he's told so many of them we're surely ready for some new perspectives.
Joseph Cedar's Footnote was a refreshing dark comedy from Israel and Lavie's Zero Motivation is a fine showcase for classical Jewish humour in a fresh setting, the all-female personnel files office of a desert military base.
One reviewer thought that the soldier girls are bitching and lack solidarity - to me it seems they are mostly just being argumentative pretty much as a Jew is expected and brought up to be.
Another non-Israeli reviewer was shocked by the suicide of a young woman sneaking into the base dressed as a soldier.
The biggest fear in the Israeli base is surely an attack by a suicide bomber.
Then an outsider penetrates the base using a fake ID - and kills herself but for purely romantic reasons.
The film is based on Talya Lavie's own experiences in the IDF.
But the audience of the film is not.
Yet I enjoyed the whole thing and think I got most of the jokes right.
It is interesting that every army looks alike.
When I served in the Yugoslav Army back in 1987/88 I felt exactly the same as some of these girls.
I guess armies have to exist to protect the societies from the various enemies, and with Ukraine-Russia conflict it is obvious that well organized armies are good deterrent from the attack by the foreign enemy.Females can be good soldiers even better then males sometimes.
It also shows us insides of the Israeli Defense Force.
I hate to admit it but there is a reason for Israel to exist, because so many crazies want to hurt Jews.
I recommend that you watch this sweet film..
With certain exemptions, nearly every Israeli must do a mandatory two year minimum of training and the IDF is considered one of the best armies in the world.
In Zero Motivation writer-director Talya Lavie quickly dispels with any romantic or political notions of what serving in the army is like and focuses her attentions on a group of teens serving out their time in a podunk base in the middle of the desert where her heroines are assigned the most menial and redundant administrative tasks.The movie focuses on two best friends; Zohar (played by Israeli star Dava Ivgy) who has an attitude problem and a chip on her shoulder, and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) a childish brat who dreams of finishing out her duty in Tel Aviv where she can go shopping and play on the beach in her downtime.
Instead the two friends make life miserable for everyone around them, focusing their attentions on hitting record highs in minesweeper instead of completing the simple office busy work they're supposed to be doing.
The film is organized in a triptych so that each half hour is its own individual section and tells one specific story but the stories build and feed in to each other.
Also despite some dark story lines which include a suicide and an attempted rape the movie is absolutely hilarious.
This is a lovely coming-of-age movie about very young women coping with their impossibly dull military service in the Israeli army.
The film is very funny with a lot of attention to detail (the officers routinely meet in front of a map marked "Palestine").
The camera work is very low key, and very reminiscent of early Israeli movies in its style.
Its not a political movie but it does give a genuine insight into how many young Israeli women experience their military service.
As a footnote I will say that I saw it in Tel Aviv, the theatre was packed and as the movie started there was a siren and the whole audience had to shuffle into the exit tunnels.
A successful Public Relations attempt for Israel Army.
This film is a very successful attempt to polish the bloody image of Israel Army and nothing more.
You can laugh at some points if you can forget or don't know anything about the realities of Gaza Strip and Palestine.There is nothing interesting in terms of cinematography, script and acting.
We can summarize the movie's message as: "We are not murderers but young, nice girls and boys." If we believe in this movie military service in Israel Army is absolute fun.Audience reactions during the screening proves that this attempt is a successful one..
This film is demeaning to women and .
Zero Motivation (2014) is an Israeli film, written and directed by Talya Lavie.
The movie takes place at a remote army post of the Israeli Defense Force.
All of the main actors portray female conscripts, none of whom wants to be in the army, especially in the middle of the desert.Dana Ivgy plays Zohar and Nelly Tagar plays Daffi, best friends until they're not.
All of the women are unmotivated and act like prisoners rather than soldiers.
(Well, in a sense they are prisoners.) However, instead of banding together to fight against the repressive officers, they play computer games and fight with each other.Not only was this film demeaning to women, but it wasn't funny.
(Well, if you consider a woman committing suicide early in the film funny, then I guess it's funny.)This film won multiple awards at the Israeli Film Academy Awards, and it carries a very high IMDb rating of 7.7.
I thought it was insulting and demeaning to women, and I really disliked it.We saw this movie in the Dryden Theatre, as part of the fantastic Rochester International Film Festival.
This is one of the best Israeli films I've seen.
I loved the characters and the real portrayal of army life for women.
It was shown in a somewhat humorous manner, but is obviously a serious problem in the IDF as in other armies.
I'll just explain this for people who haven't lived in Israel: "The Kirya" is a base located in TLV, and considered an easy service compared with being placed in a remote location.
One of the girls wishes she could serve on this base.Just a note to the actors: please create a profile with your pictures, on this site..
clever plot, good acting = enjoyable IDF film.
The incomparable Dana Ivgy (Zohar) with her zinger lines and equally zing-y delivery, and the actress who portrays Irena (why is she not credited?) carry this zany, slightly dark IDF comedy.I subtracted one star from 10 because I found it unrealistic that a shot could be fired on an IDF base and no one comes running.Other than that, the plot is just complex enough with just enough loops to keep it moving, yet not confusing; and the characters were thoroughly differentiated, again simplifying things for the viewer.The story treats contemporary issues such as date rape, sadistic commanders, and the plight of women soldiers assigned to unchallenging administrative jobs.
I recommend Zero Motivation highly.*By the way, I'd translate *yachasei enosh* יחסי אנוש as "people skills", but "motivation" works, as this crowd lacks both!.
A Hollow, Empty Office Farce.
I will grant the possibility that there was something lost in translation: I'm not Israeli so maybe there are cultural aspects that don't translate.
In the first story of three related stories, a young woman commits suicide in a gruesome way.
There is attempted drama between some of the young women characters which is really no more than trivial friction among friends.
There is a shoot-out with staple guns that could have been funny but the context is that these characters are truly trying to harm the other.
I screened Zero Motivation at Tribeca this week.
The early signs were positive: - its nominated for best narrative feature; - the director's prior film - a short - won # awards; - Talya Lavie worked on the script at the Sundance Film Institute.
Sadly, all those 1st impressions came crashing to the ground: - the acting performances are nothing special; - the script is at time awkward and full of gender stereotypes and clichés; - the audience reaction was all over the map.
Zohar serves her two years working in a boring back office function at an IDF base.
Daffi aspires to live in Tel Aviv, & somehow manages to complete officer training to fulfill her wish.
In a Q&A following the screening, a member of the cast suggested the plot was a "realistic portrayal of life in the IDF" and the plot of this dark comedy represented a microcosm of Israeli society.
Zero Motivation review.
Zero Motivation is an Israeli film about a group of women who are working in the Israel Defense Forces.
Zohar and Daffi are best friends who traveled together daily to work at the Human Resources Office at a remote dessert base in Israel.
One day when they arrive at the base Daffi finds her replacement named Tehila.
Daffy's big dream is to work in Tel-Aviv, so she tried to get a replacement and reassignment, so she could work in Tel-Aviv.
Rama is the supervisor and head of all the girls working in the defense forces.
Daffi and the rest of the base soon found out that Tehila was not her replacement.
Tehila snuck onto the base to see a boy that she fell in love with.
This boy serving in the forces rejects Tehila, and she then commits suicide.
Daffi decided to apply for a position to be an officer because she saw this as the only way to achieve her goal to work in Tel-Aviv.
She got transferred to another base, and left her friend Zohar in bad terms.
Daffi then graduates from officer training, and instead of being placed in Tel-Aviv, ironically she receives Rama's old position which was extremely ironic.
Daffi struggles to discipline the girls that she used to be friends with while working in the office.
Zohar and Daffy get involved in a violent fight.
In the end Zohar takes the blame, so that Daffi can experience her dream by working in Tel-Aviv.
I would recommend this film to someone who is not looking for a lot of action, and wishes to learn about women's role in the Israeli troops.
I have watched many films throughout this school year, and Zero Motivation has not been very intriguing.
This film was very boring and did not have any climax which does not allow the viewers to question what will happen next.
Although I did not enjoy watching this film, I thought it was very interesting to see footage of all the soldiers serving for the Israel Defense Forces.