The Wooden Gun

The movie is OK but nothing special. Basically the boys of the neighborhood are divided into two small gangs which are at war with each other. The movie begins with one gang ambushing one member of the other gang and breaking his arm, and the war escalates from there. There are prejudices and fears in the adult population from which the children draw their ideas and thus these prejudices and fears fuel the children's warfare. The movie does have a fair degree of suspense just from the fact that it is not clear how far the children will go before it ends.I am sure the movie would have more meaning and interest to someone who is more familiar with Israel just after World War II. There are a number of references to individuals and places which I know nothing about and therefore the references are lost to me.I also had a problem with the disc playing on my NTSC region 1 DVD player. I do have an all region player and it played fine on it.One last note, there is very minor nudity in the film. Yoni Schreiber, played by Arik Rosen, is seen briefly nude from the rear as he gets out of the bathtub and wraps a towel around his waist.

"...This film does an excellent job of mixing the black and white film, wide vistas, and classic looks of the old-school westerns with the darker anti-hero characters, emotional moments, and tragic elements of the newer spaghetti westerns. Each of these eras have two distinct and beautiful styles, and for the filmmakers of The Wooden Gun to find a way to combine them is quite impressive. There a few minor elements that could stand to be fixed, but overall this is an amazing creation - I would pay money to see it on the big screen..." -Monica Deleeuw-Taylor, Microfilmmaker.com