What if your son CHOSE the war that might kill him?
Anat, a single mother and a devoted literature primary school teacher, is impatiently waiting for her son’s discharge from the army. But exactly on the due date of his release, a soldier is kidnapped and a new war breaks out. The condition of her shell-shocked father, Ya'akov, starts to deteriorate as Ido calls to say that all discharges have been put on hold. The angst-ridden Anat tries to get him back home, appealing to the kindness of the commanding officers. Ido returns, but her spirit is broken when she discovers that discharges were not suspended - it was he who volunteered to fight. Their symbiotic relationship goes downhill, Ido returns to the border post and the battle flares up. Before his unit enters Lebanon, Anat, who feels trapped between her father and her son, decides to take matters into her own hands.
Acting
Dana Ivgy's controlled unraveling — every breath is a battlefield.
Direction
Braun traps us in Anat's suffocating subjectivity, no relief.
Director
Netalie Braun
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released amid ongoing Israel-Hezbollah tensions, the film's Lebanon border setting transforms from backdrop to urgent political mirror.
The title's irony: Anat literally cannot breathe as she loses control, while 'oxygen' becomes what military service steals from families.
IL
