by Tobi Gordon for FILMbutton

For many in the Diaspora, especially at this time of year. “Next year, in Jerusalem” is the prayer which has called a wandering, exiled people back home for centuries.

In Eran Riklis’s new film, best known for The Syrian Bride & Lemon Tree, there’s another saying, however, that seems to inform the Israeli bread company executive who is trying to turn around a public relations calamity by throwing a lot of money at the problem of what to do with the remains of an employee, a recent emigree, who has died in a suicide bombing incident.

“There’s no place like home”, is what she has in mind, when she sends her beleaguered HR Manager to deliver the casket to the woman’s family back in Russia. A road movie with a new twist, the trip becomes an emotional journey for all involved, until the unfortunate victim is finally laid to rest.

The theme is bleak. So is the look of the film. But the starkness of the images and theme is balanced by the richness of the characters we meet along the way. They add interest, emotion and even some humor to the story and to the life of the HR Manager, himself, who is both burdened and privileged with the task of finding a suitable resting place for the body.

Tobi Gordon is a former Media Studies teacher in Toronto and avid film fan.