You won't be disappointed!

Just perfect...

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Walk on Water is a film worth catching. The plot of the Mossad man asked to go undercover to watch the German grandson and Kibbutzim granddaughter of a major Nazi is already fascinating - but the script and acting delivers massively in making this more than simply a drama. It would be wrong to even label it a thriller - it is a complex, yet beautiful piece, with a good sense of pace, that centers around a variety of themes involving identity and international belonging.The wider notions of culture and identity and even sexuality that are raised here are both poignant and interesting. It is a film that is easy to watch, but raises at the same time interesting questions while you're watching it. The mix of tourism, kibbutzim, police work, and the city life coupled with the contrast between the individuals makes this a satisfying watch.All in all this Israeli production shines with intelligence, good drama, and a sense of values that not inherently obvious invade and stay after the credits roll. Recommended.

This is a deeply moving account of the troubled relationship that still exists between Israelis and Germans; between Israelis and Palestinians; and between gay men and straight men.So many heterosexual viewers miss the most obvious subplot, which is the growing romantic and sexual attraction that Eyal (the hardened Israeli Mossad agent) feels towards Axel, the gentle, extroverted, fun-loving, kind, and decent German who also happens to be gay. I have had countless debates with straight men who insit that I am guilty of "wishful thinking" for believing that Eyal fell in love with Axel, although the signs of this growing romantic and sexual attraction are so glaringly obvious to a gay viewer that it is with difficulty and incredulity that I argue this very issue with so many heterosexuals (particularly heterosexual men).At first, Eyal and Axel are like oil and water. Eyal perceives Axel to be a "pseudo-liberal" and condemns him out of hand for questioning the motives of the Palestinian suicide bombers who blow themselves up (killing innocent men, women, and children in the process). Eyal is the prototypical Israeli alpha male – machismo is his defining characteristic, manifesting itself in the angry arguments he has with Menachem (his Mossad supervisor) and in his bellicose, over the top display of anger before Menachem and his colleague upon disclosing the fact that he had been shepherding a "homo" around Israel as he played Nazi "games" with Menachem. Shakespeare's expression "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" gains new traction in this context; Eyal resorts to the most base stereotyping of Axel (typified in his remark that Axel found somebody to take him shopping in Israel), apparently unaware of his own tendency to think in stereotypes (referring to the Palestinians as "animals").But it is the character growth and development of Eyal that makes this movie a rare gem. For me, one of the defining moments in the movie occurs when Axel and his sister, Pia, sing "Cinderella Rockerfella" together, so obviously enjoying themselves (and each other). Eyal saw two Germans – people who he had every reason to hate – loving each other and loving life, oblivious to the hatred that others were "supposed" to feel towards them. Pia's disclosure that her Israeli boyfriend left her upon learning that her grandfather had been a Nazi is genuinely sad; nobody is born with a debt (a point that this movie makes without becoming tendentious or moralistic), and neither Pia nor Axel should have had to suffer for the crimes perpetrated against Eyal's parents (and thousands of other Jews) by their elderly grandfather.There is a scene involving blatant flirtation between Axel and Eyal, occurring in the context of a serious discussion about gay sex, which makes the growing attraction that Eyal feels towards Axel so clearly obvious that it takes an act of wilful denial of reality to miss this attraction. This flirtation occurs when Axel remarks about all straight men being the same – the body language between the two men, the tones of voice, and the subject matter were all so clearly indicative of where their relationship was headed that denial of this relationship can only be explained in terms of utter blindness, or the depressing tendency of so many straight Americans (particularly men) to reduce gay relationships to the sum of a number of sex acts, completely ignoring the emotional and psychological dimensions of such relationships. Eyal fell in love with Axel – when he first saw Axel in Berlin, watching him emerge from the school at which Axel taught new immigrants basic skills, he had the look of a lovesick puppy on his face… There are scenes in this movie that are to be treasured for the manner in which they combine irony with tenderness. The word "achtung", spoken by Axel as he guides the houseguests through an old Hebrew folk dance, would be grotesque and obscene in any other context – but the actors and directors pull this off masterfully in this movie.The conflict between Axel and his mother (Sigrid) comes to a head after the old Nazi grandfather is introduced to the guests at Axel's father's birthday party – and this scene is so sad, precisely because it contrasts the stark difference in attitudes between younger Germans, who want nothing whatsoever to do with their national past, with that of older Germans, some of whom are torn by the conflicting demands of family loyalty on the one hand, and justice on the other. This movie reminds the viewer of the fact that Germans born after World War II are all too frequently reminded of the reality that not all older Germans have come to terms with their past, and that old hatreds die hard.The only false note in this movie was at the very end, in which Eyal married Pia. Throughout the movie, Eyal showed absolutely no interest in Pia whatsoever (although Pia looked as though she wished to devour Eyal on the spot!). Clearly, this ending was tacked on for the sake of the backward yokels in the red states, who would have boycotted or otherwise targeted this movie had it ended where it should have ended (revealing the sexual and emotional relationship so strongly implied between Eyal and Axel).In the real life story upon which this movie was based, the Mossad agent depicted by Eyal fell in love with, and had a romantic and sexual relationship with, the German brother of the Nazi grandfather, before marrying the sister. However, this ending was poorly handled in the movie – the relationship between Eyal and Pia underwent no development whatsoever, and the ending was completely incongruous. The movie was saved from being ruined by the ending, however, by Eyal's account of the dream he had, in which he and Axel finally walked on water. Finally, both characters were able to accomplish this miracle, even if only in their dreams...

This movie was billed as a film about a Mossad agent going after a war criminal. One would suspect something along the lines of The Bourne Identity or Munich. You would be sorely disappointed.This is a film about life and about people. It is about forgiving and forgetting. It's about "getting over it." It is about acceptance of others regardless of their national origin or sexual orientation.This film is full of surprises and it is how people deal with those surprises that is what is so fascinating about it. It is about generational differences and how the same thing affects the young and old.If you are interested in Holocaust films or Israeli-Palestinaian relations, then this is a film you will certainly enjoy.

This is a gripping and fascinating Israeli film from director Eytan Fox about a cold-blooded Mossad assassin, Eyal (Lior Ashkenazi), and his total transformation. It features some splendid location filming, including a very modern Tel Aviv, along with Istanbul and Berlin.The film opens with a chilling assassination of an Hamas commander out for the day in Istanbul with his family. Eyal poses as a fellow tourist yet dispatches the Hamas man with a Bulgarian style, 'accidental' injection while passing him by the docks (a bit like the infamous one on London in the 1970s).The assassin has a troubled personal life, his wife committing suicide when he arrives back. But this is when the film gets interesting; Eyal's commander in Mossad is Menachem (Gideon Shemer), and he now sends him on a special mission to locate an aged former German war criminal, Alfred Himmelman (Ernest Lenart), which basically involves posing as a tourist guide to a brother and sister, the latter now living on a kibbutz.The kibbutz is the antithesis of Eyal's normal life – communal living, a sort of watered down socialism, not-to-mention awful Israeli folk music and dancing. Also, the grandson of the war criminal is a total leftie and homosexual, seducing the odd Arab along the way. You can imagine how the tough-guy, Bruce Springsteen listening hard man reacts to that.For me, the best part of this excellent film is when Eyal, attending the birthday party of the war criminal's son in Berlin, is confronted with the man he is supposed to 'terminate', Himmelmann. In a gripping, chilling scene reminiscent of Marathon Man, the ancient war criminal is brought into the party, accompanied by a drip. You want to shoot him there and then, but, alas, Eyal has 'moved on'.The script is brilliant, and the main protagonist undergoes the classic transformation, in the end becoming great friends with Axel and marrying his sister.Well worth watching.