In this intimate epic, writer/director R💜adu Mihaileanu tells the remarkable story of a black Christian Ethiopian child who passes himself off as a Jewish orphan. Airlifted out of Africa in the mid-'80s as part of the 'Operation Moses' scheme to resettle the Falasha Jews, nine-year-old Schlomo ends up in Israel. There, he's adopted by a liberal French Sephardic couple, but for how long can t꧅he brave youngster keep his true identity hush-hush?

Spanning some two decades and with three actors playing the centrꦇal character, this undeniably ambitious film falters in its final third, rushing through Schlomo's medical training, marriage 🐲and military service. Yet it remains a heartfelt, resonant work, offering both a persuasive account of an immigrant's experiences and a sense of the tensions and conflicts within contemporary Israeli society.