Movie

Review of Golden Voices Movie

In the charming and bittersweet Israeli film “Golden Voices” Vladimir Friedman and Maria Belkin embody Victor and Raya Frenkel, actors with a “Golden Voice” in the 60s, who earned their living by filming in the Soviet Union. The audience saw Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck or Dustin Hoffman on the screen, but the Russian-speaking voice they heard was Victor’s. He says: “Every film is a whole world into which we help people. Another emigrant told him that when he saw “Spartacus” in Israel, he realized that what he loved about the film was the voice of Victor. “You make Kirk Douglas great!”

The Frenkels, like the actors who embody them and the co-writer/director Evgeny Ruman, are among the more than 900,000 Jews who emigrated to Israel when the Soviet Union collapsed in the 1980s. They get very little support. A nephew, who used to be called Boris, is now called Baruch. He puts her in an apartment he found for her and leaves her there. Victor doubtfuls that a small utility box on the wall is some kind of spyware that reminds us that he always had to be aware of being watched. But the film very easily touches on cultural differences. It’s not a “Perfect Strangers”-style sitcom full of misunderstandings and cute malapropisms capable of laughter. Queuing to collect gas masks when Saddam Hussein drops a chemical boom on Israel seems to be a part of their new life as commonplace as learning Hebrew.

What is more disturbing is not being able to find “golden voice” jobs that meet their standards of professionalism and artistic value. The only Russian language jobs you can find are an unpaid public service ad about what to do in matter of a toxic chemical strike for Victor and being a phone gender operator for lonely Russian newcomers for Raya. She is so embarrassed that she tells her that she is telemarketing. And yet, in one of the best scenes of the film, when it comes to the fact that she is not Raya, 62, but a virgin Margarita, 22, on the phone, Belkin shows us how raya’s actress occasionally gets up and even likes to become a performer again. Raya / Margarita turns into another character for a caller. She can say that he appreciates an elderly and dissatisfied woman fashion. While she is talking to this caller, a part of her true self begins to manifest, more than she has allowed herself for many years.

Victor calls for a “new beginning” on her first night in Israel. But departures do not even happen and do not always feel as fresh as we hope. The Frenkels and their relationship are put to the test because they have to reinvent themselves. Their Golden Voices have been used in the name of others for decades and their true identity, in this new environment, arises uncomfortably. Raya says that she wants to feel like the main actress of her own life, but “I’m not even a minor character.”Victor is getting darker and more distant. For the first time in a long time, maybe never, you need to find a way to speak with your own voices.

Belkin, nominated for Best Actress by the Israeli Film Academy for this role, is a radiant delight that shows us how Raya uses her voice to explore her deeper feelings, while her husband has to give up his sense of himself as a professional to make quick dubbing of pirated copies. It is, of course, a personal story for the people who realized it, a sincere thanks for the new beginning they found in their new home, and for all the new beginnings and people who had the courage to find them.