Why this chaotic 1930s silent comedy is worth your time (if you like weird history)

You should absolutely watch Harpatkeotav Shel Gadi Ben Sossi if you love weird, dusty film history. But if you hate silent films where the camera barely moves and the frame shakes, you will probably want to turn it off after three minutes. 🎥

It is basically a chaotic relic from 1930s Tel Aviv. Baruch Agadati plays Gadi, and he walks around the streets like a guy who just realized he left his oven on at home.

The plot is so thin it barely exists. Gadi wanders around, gets into goofy trouble, and looks incredibly sweaty the entire time.

Honestly, some of the physical comedy reminds me of Buster Keaton in The 'High Sign'. But Agadati has this frantic, amateur energy that is way less polished than Keaton.

The weird little details

There is this one scene where a donkey just stands in the middle of the street. Nobody moves it, so the actors just awkwardly film around it. 🐴

It feels like they had exactly one afternoon to shoot the whole thing before the sun went down. The shadows are incredibly long in almost every outdoor shot, like they were racing against the clock.

Avigdor Hame'iri wrote this, but it feels mostly improvised on the spot. Like they just told Agadati to go jump over a wall and look funny while doing it.

The movie have this raw charm because of how unpolished it is. It does not have the heavy, dramatic weight of something like Wild Oranges.

You can tell the camera operator did not really know how to focus properly yet. Some shots are so blurry you have to squint to see Gadi's face expression.

But that is what makes it so cool to watch today. It is a genuine slice of time that was never meant to be a masterpiece.

If you are expecting something highly structured like A Ship Comes In, you will be disappointed. This is just pure, silly historical curiosity.

• The random guy in the background of the street scene who clearly did not know he was being filmed.
• The way the intertitles look like they were hand-painted five minutes before the premiere.
• That incredibly long pause where Gadi just stares at a shoe.

It is short, it is messy, and it is a little bit broken. But I am really glad I took the time to dig it up.