Petty Hoodlum

Kobi Oz brings together a colorful carnival of characters from the fringes of society – street boys, petty criminals, policemen, authentic Middle Eastern types, as well as a representative of the Ashkenazi elite. Each character has his or her own world, own form of protest, own way of speaking and together they reflect the tensions of Israeli society. At the center of the action, which takes place in a Jaffa suburb, is nineteen-year-old Nir Damti, half-Moroccan half-Yemenite. Nir is a petty hoodlum who, so his well-wishers say, was born with great potential. He rages against the world, doesn`t give a damn for anyone and refuses to let anyone reform him. Who are they, the do-gooders who would like to reform him? Netzer Har-Shoshanim, an Ashkenazi youth leader who works with street gangs, whose mother, Henrietta Rosenberg, is a retired judge of German origin, a Holocaust survivor; a slow-witted police inspector called Sisera, married to Sara, an Ashkenazi kibbutznik who pretends to be from Iraq; Ruthie Zigzag, the daughter of the local rabbi, who is in love with Nir; and his grandfarher, Maurice Batito. Each character has an intriguing story of his own to tell: Inspector Sisera is cheating on his wife with the voluptuous whore Lisette, foster-mother of Bulbul Akapulko. Bulbul, brought up by Lisette as a girl, even though she is male in every respect, is also a member of the world`s oldest profession and her biological mother is actually Sara, who gave birth to her after having sex with an Arab terrorist from Gaza. Netzer Har-Shoshanim is having an affair with Zoe Amsalem, a young woman who has left her small town for Sheinkin Street, the most fashionable part of Tel Aviv, but Zoe prefers Nir Damti. There are also things going on in the lives of the older generation. Henrietta discovers that the number from Buchenwald, tattooed on her late husband`s forearm, has suddenly shown up on the arm of Maurice, the Moroccan. The two decide to get married and during the wedding ceremony, the Messiah appears, riding on a white donkey. Yes, anything is possible in this wild, comic fantasy by Kobi Oz.