Warning! SPOILERS ahead! To me, the most blatant thing about Yossi and Jagger is the sexual tension running throughout the film. Not only between Yossi and Jagger, but between the soldiers both male and female as well. Which, of course, is normal for young people in their early twenties... and more so when they are in the front lines and could die at any moment. I think that this is the key to the film - for we are reminded again and again that what these kids want to do more than anything is to live at 100 miles per hour... it is the only chance they might get. The best example is just before going out on an ambush, suddenly everyone is dancing flat out with an energy that overflows. They shouldn't be spending so much energy when they might need it in the next few hours, but they can't help it. It might be their last time.
What hit me hardest was the ending, where one of the girls confesses her love for Jagger, and everyone in Jagger's family immediately assumes that he was her boyfriend and that he loved her... everyone except Yossi, who knows the truth. This moment in the film shows so well how lonely life can be for gay lovers... especially when one dies. Many times, if they were not completely out of the closet, the one left behind is not allowed to mourn for his lost lover, or at least not in a way that recognizes his real role in the dead person's life. I remember a friend whose lover had died... but no-one at his workplace was aware that he was living in a couple and had just lost his mate. He just had to show up at work the day after the funeral as if everything were fine. What a horror. And we see this same problem for Yossi...who at least has his memories, if not recognition.
Many people try to pretend that there is no such thing as "gay" cinema... or a gay sensitivity. Yossi and Jagger put the lie to this. Of all the films I've seen, this one is one of the simplest, yet also one of the most effective depictions of gay love that I have seen in the cinema. Honest, direct, tender, touching, funny, bittersweet and beautiful - it makes us like and want to know the protagonists better. Kudos to the director, who deserves a greater renown. This film is short, but it is a gem.
What hit me hardest was the ending, where one of the girls confesses her love for Jagger, and everyone in Jagger's family immediately assumes that he was her boyfriend and that he loved her... everyone except Yossi, who knows the truth. This moment in the film shows so well how lonely life can be for gay lovers... especially when one dies. Many times, if they were not completely out of the closet, the one left behind is not allowed to mourn for his lost lover, or at least not in a way that recognizes his real role in the dead person's life. I remember a friend whose lover had died... but no-one at his workplace was aware that he was living in a couple and had just lost his mate. He just had to show up at work the day after the funeral as if everything were fine. What a horror. And we see this same problem for Yossi...who at least has his memories, if not recognition.
Many people try to pretend that there is no such thing as "gay" cinema... or a gay sensitivity. Yossi and Jagger put the lie to this. Of all the films I've seen, this one is one of the simplest, yet also one of the most effective depictions of gay love that I have seen in the cinema. Honest, direct, tender, touching, funny, bittersweet and beautiful - it makes us like and want to know the protagonists better. Kudos to the director, who deserves a greater renown. This film is short, but it is a gem.