‘LoveTrue‘, the second (only) documentary by Alma Har’el (after ‘Bombay Beach‘ in 2011) confirms that we are dealing with a film-maker with an original style and voice, who has something to say about the realities and the people around us, without bothering too much about categories and genres.
‘LoveTrue‘ tells in parallel three love stories that take place in three different locations in the United States. The first happens in Alaska, where we witness the relationship between two unusual young people – an unconventional girl who works in a strip club and a boy affected by a disease that affects the structure of the bones, making it fragile to any physical contact. The scene of the second story is Hawaii, telling about a man whose marriage breaks down just to find out that the two-year-old boy he adores and who is the center of his universe is not his natural child. Finally, the third segment describes another family in the crisis, this time a family of musicians from the New York City jungle, where the mother leaves the children, letting them face a charismatic but abusive and manipulative father. The common denominator of these stories, in which the relationships between the heroes and the hidden aspects of their characters are gradually revealed to us, is love – but in no case is it a conventional love. The quote in the Bible that serves as the preface of the film seems to say that the ways of love are multiple, diverse, and sometimes hidden.
The cinematic technique of Alma Har’el is original and interesting. The stories are interleaved, the characters and the action in each segment progress progressively, and we have the final picture only towards the end. Surprises and overturns are present, as in pure fiction films. The author combines documentary segments that she filmed herself. with filmed sequences from the personal archives of heroes’ families, and complements these with fictional scenes, sometimes with a tent of fantastic, played by actors or real characters in combination with the actors. It is clear that the conception phase of each of the three episodes lasted for a long time, maybe years, and that some of the events and stories happened after the beginning of the film. It is an invitation to an interesting discussion about the relationship between documentary and fiction, but also about the role the filmmaker has had in events. Would it have been different if the camera was not nearby? Each of the three ‘LoveTrue‘ stories is quite complex and exciting to be the subject of a separate film, but as it is, the 80-minute film by Alma Har’el is interesting enough to capture the interest and attention of viewers .