Berlinale 2023 | Delegation (Ha’Mishlahat)

Three Israeli teenagers navigate their evolving friendship during a class trip to Poland to visit Holocaust sites in director Asaf Saban’s coming-of-age drama, Ha’Mishlahat (Delegation).

High school seniors Frisch (Yoav Bavly), Nitzan (Neomi Harari), and Ido (Leib Lev Levin) are close friends despite their differences. Frisch is an introvert, Ido the class heartthrob, and Nitzan an artsy rebel. Like their classmates, the three are excited about traveling to Poland; it’s a traditional class trip for senior students, one that focuses on Holocaust (also known as the Shoah) sites and encourages students to connect with their identities.

Initially, the trio’s collective friendship is in harmony and they have high hopes for their trip together, including plans to sneak out and party in cities along the way. As the class trip progresses, however, fissures appear in their friendship(s) and each of them struggles to deal with their respective feelings and identities.

To Frisch and Nitzan’s dismay, Ido reconnects with his on-again, off-again girlfriend, and as a result spends less time with Frisch and Nitzan. The two friends are frustrated, as Ido’s relationship with this girl has evidently, historically, been toxic and full of drama. To make matters worse, Nitzan realizes she has complicated, unbidden romantic feelings for Ido, with whom she has been friends since they were small children. She doesn’t know how to handle this, particularly as Ido sends confusingly mixed signals, and so she turns inward, leaving Frisch feeling completely isolated from both his friends. Feeling angry and alone, Frisch makes a rash decision that sends him on his own literal and figurative journey in an unfamiliar region.

Frisch’s grandfather Yosef (Ezra Dagan) is also on the class trip. He’s a Holocaust survivor and the teachers have asked him along to share his memories. Yosef is a highlight of the film and the most interesting character. Frisch often avoids his grandfather on the trip (after all, he wants to look “cool”), but seeks him out after feeling lonely. Yosef encourages Frisch to sneak out with his friends and even chats with some locals on their behalf. We also see that Yosef wants to share his knowledge with the students, and he is happy to share stories that were clearly pieces of light for him in a dark time, but he understandably struggles to recount the horrors that still carry so much grief and trauma. Meanwhile, the teachers seem surprisingly ignorant and push him to get to “the action.” Yosef is a deep well of character, but we only scratch the surface.

The film’s tone is very strange as it attempts to balance (or at least present) both the sombre nature of visiting Holocaust sites, portraying the students solemnly reflecting on the past, and the raucous nature of high school drama and teenagers abroad. The teens are shown goofing around one minute and silently bearing witness to mass graves the next. They are rowdy and jovial on the coach bus while Schindler’s List plays in the background on the bus’ tiny movie screen. Nitzan and Ido share an intimate moment of sexual tension amidst the backdrop of Auschwitz. The film’s intention with this off-putting approach is unclear. Although it’s consistent, we’re far from sure it works in the film’s favour.

There’s also an undercurrent not given much attention beyond a few vague references, which is that per Israel law, the senior students will be enlisting in the military next year to complete their mandatory service. Their looming conscription frames the traditional senior trip in a slightly different, more political context as we see, from the students’ reflections, how it encourages them to adapt a strong stance on defending Israel against enemies. On its own, the sentiment is understandable given the atrocities carried out against Jews during the Holocaust and the prevalence of antisemitism today; however, when framed against impending military conscription in Israel, where the armed forces continue to persecute Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, the sentiment carries a darker undertone.

At the end of the film, the three friends reconcile and also come to terms with themselves, albeit in some cliché ways. Despite the jarringly uneven tone of the film, the characters are largely compelling and Yosef in particular is a standout who gives us much to contemplate.

Written and directed by Asaf Saban, Delegation had its international premiere at this year’s Berlinale as part of the Generation 14plus section. The competitive category screens coming-of-age films that explore the lives and worlds of children and teenagers as seen through their eyes.