Tale about a conflicted boy slips as he ages

The Baltimore Sun

If you can get past its maudlin passages and political simplicity, Live and Become is perfect fare for Passover. It tells the tale of a contemporary exodus. In 1977, the Falashas, Ethiopian Jews, began migrating in great numbers to flee persecution from a Marxist-Leninist regime. In 1980, they won the covert support of the Israeli intelligence agencies and military, who smuggled them into Israel.

In 1984 and '85, the Israelis initiated Operation Moses. Eight thousand Falashas moved on foot to the Sudan, where enormous Hercules transport planes, operating under a cloak of silence at a military airport near Khartoum, airlifted them to Israel. Four thousand more had died on the long march.

Live and Become (Menemsha) Starring Moshe Agazai, Yael Abecassis, Roschdy Zem, Mosche Abebe, Sirak M. Sabahat. Directed by Radu Mihaileanu. Unrated. Time 140 minutes.

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