Delegation 2025 Movie Review
Being a teenager isn’t a simple process: you begin to discover new emotions and desires, and develop your identity. You start to question the expectations imposed by society and what’s expected of you, especially if you have an important past that deserves respect and respect. In “Delegation ,” director Asaf Saban brings us an interesting coming-of-age story whose context and characters leave us with several reflections on this stage of life.
On their last trip before joining the military, a group of Israeli high school students travel to Poland to visit various Holocaust commemoration sites. Among them are three inseparable friends: Frisch (Yoav Bavly), a shy and introverted boy whose grandfather (Ezra Dagan) accompanies the group to tell them about his experience during the genocide; Ido (Leib Lev Levin), a young man with love problems; and Nitzan (Neomi Harari), who is secretly in love with the latter. This trip tests their friendship and makes them discover new facets of themselves.
Saban beautifully weaves together the growing-up aspects of his characters, especially that of Frisch, who tries to reconcile his insecurities with the temporary estrangement from his friends, who are busy solving their own problems. Bavly is charismatic in this role and captures adolescent frustration very well without ever being obnoxious. It is also in his character that the script effectively creates this contrast between the solemnity of the journey (which is a kind of pilgrimage) and the young people’s desire for new experiences and fun: while along the way they are shown films like “Fiddler on the Roof” or “Schindler’s List,” he is only concerned with getting a classmate to like him.
This contrast between nationalism and youth permeates the entire film. There are moments when the young people are asked to express what they felt and don’t know how to respond, revealing precisely that their concerns are different. The director also makes the intelligent decision not to translate what others speak in a language other than Hebrew or English, which creates the sense of isolation so often repeated by the teachers, who ridiculously make them believe that any non-Jewish person will attack them.
However, at times the director’s intentions regarding this topic are ambiguous, such as scenes of young people singing in chorus surrounded by flags, which leaves us unsure whether this is meant as an apology, a critique, or a mere observation. Since the aim is to keep the political aspect solely contextual in order to prioritize adolescent experiences, its inclusion is at times confusing.
For its part, Nitzan and Ido’s story doesn’t mesh as well as their friend’s, partly because their conflicts don’t build on the central plot with the same force: there are hints that Nitzan is interested in art, but they’re very vague, and the love triangle initially posited loses relevance halfway through the film. Still, the actors are convincing, and the story itself is interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention. It’s when the group reunites that everything comes together.
“Delegation” is a coming-of-age drama told with quirky humor and that effortlessly addresses complex themes of national and religious identity. It takes on a bit more than it can handle at times, but when it focuses on its talented trio of leads, it results in a rewarding growing-up experience.
