the audience applauded

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Boring

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The Israel Defense Forces have a certain reputation both inside of Israel and outside of it. With certain exemptions, nearly every Israeli must do a mandatory two year minimum of training and the IDF is considered one of the best armies in the world. In Zero Motivation writer-director Talya Lavie quickly dispels with any romantic or political notions of what serving in the army is like and focuses her attentions on a group of teens serving out their time in a podunk base in the middle of the desert where her heroines are assigned the most menial and redundant administrative tasks.The movie focuses on two best friends; Zohar (played by Israeli star Dava Ivgy) who has an attitude problem and a chip on her shoulder, and Daffi (Nelly Tagar) a childish brat who dreams of finishing out her duty in Tel Aviv where she can go shopping and play on the beach in her downtime. Instead the two friends make life miserable for everyone around them, focusing their attentions on hitting record highs in minesweeper instead of completing the simple office busy work they're supposed to be doing. The film is organized in a triptych so that each half hour is its own individual section and tells one specific story but the stories build and feed in to each other. Also despite some dark story lines which include a suicide and an attempted rape the movie is absolutely hilarious. It always keeps the heroines at the forefront of the action and their callous attitudes and general unpleasantness towards their colleagues, and eventually each other, keeps things interesting and life. A great watch.

This is one of the best Israeli films I've seen. I loved the characters and the real portrayal of army life for women. There was one difficult scene about suicide. It was shown in a somewhat humorous manner, but is obviously a serious problem in the IDF as in other armies. I'll just explain this for people who haven't lived in Israel: "The Kirya" is a base located in TLV, and considered an easy service compared with being placed in a remote location. One of the girls wishes she could serve on this base.Just a note to the actors: please create a profile with your pictures, on this site.

I was ready for some comedy and the Israeli movie "Zero Motivation" way exceed my expectation. In addition to a great script, with a well- organized and tightly structured plot, it is filled with black comedy, feminism, friendship, and work ethics wrapped with a little nudity and horror, all done with a limited budget. The acting are very good too. The movie was divided into three parts which are linked together by two central characters, Daffi (Nelly Tagar) and Zohar (Dana Ivgy), both young female soldiers working in the administration department of a military base in the middle of the dessert. They are among a group of equally demotivated female colleagues supervised by ambitious but frustrated Captain Rama (Shani Klein), the only female officer in the management team.The film starts with good friends Daffi and Zohar reluctantly return to base after a short break. Daffi, a clerical worker in charge of paper and the shredder, is tired of being stuck in the dessert and wants to be transferred to Tel Aviv. She seeks help from Zohar who is responsible for mail and trusts her in mailing letters for her transfer. Comedy erupts when a new comer Tehila (Yonit Tobi) enters the camp and Daffi treats her as her replacement until something tragic happens. In the second part, Zohar is obsessed about losing her virginity but she exercises her independent thinking and receives help from a fellow colleague who asserts the female ego. It is the third part that ties all the loose ends from part one and two and we see more comedy, irony and creative action. Then everything ends in a reasonable and interesting wrap up.I would not divulge too much plot as it will spoil the fun. But I can guarantee that it is packed with jokes and laughter while making you think about the absurdity and blessing in life, while pondering on gender roles. Perhaps the only short coming is the military setting which is hard for most international audience to identify with. But the issues of office management, friendship and courtship are universal across industry and culture. Most importantly, the voice of female power is strong. Highly recommended.

Some elements of the movie are quite unbelievable, but the movie is clever enough to approach them gradually and only after achieving buy-in from the audience. What with the delicate balance of comedy and drama, when the girls start duelling with staple guns you truly aren't sure whether somebody's going to get terribly hurt or not. I've never been a fan of Dana Ivgy, sullen and sulky as she always looks, but the role here fits her; and it's a nice script, divided into ostensibly separate chapters but surprising the audience with links between them and not ending before even the shrewish valkyrie of a desk officer has been vouchsafed a moment of sympathy from the audience. If Nat Hiken were alive, I think he and his creation Sergeant Bilko would approve.