The anticipated screening of the film 'On the Brink of Fear' about the life of Yigal Amir continues to cause a stir.
The film interviews members of the Amir family, with the film mainly focusing on the murderer's wife - Larissa Trimobbler Amir, and the legal battles she waged with her husband against the state.
The director of the film, which is financed by the Russian Ministry of Culture, is the Israeli-Latvian Herz Frank, who died during the making of the film. Maria Kravchenko, completed it.
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The film presents a human facet to Amir's life, and incorporates interviews with his family. In one scene in the film, Amir is seen reading a story to his son every evening via phone call before bed, including stories about the poor in the circle, and about Gideon ben Yoash, who saved Israel.
Amir's child was exposed to additional positions, such as returning from school, lighting Hanukkah candles, and praying at the Western Wall.
Larissa Trimobbler calls her husband's act naive in the film - but says of him: "I am one of those who saw him as a hero. I saw him as a child who did it out of desperation. An idealist, who seemed human and was driven to his actions out of desperation, who did a desperate act and sacrificed himself.".
The film, as expected, provoked reactions in the political system. MK Ayelet Nachmias-Verbin of the Zionist Union, who previously served as the CEO of the Association for the Commemoration of Prime Minister Rabin, said: "We constantly find ourselves sailing in this complex range of freedom of expression. I have been curious about murderers for many, many years. I do not have an ounce of curiosity in my heart, and on the contrary, I have terrible disgust for this family and its members.".
Former President Shimon Peres condemned the screening of the film in an interview with the Wint website: "It is said that someone will stand up tomorrow and use freedom of expression to suggest murdering someone - is that freedom of expression? Freedom of expression does not mean a contradiction of freedom. Culture is built on freedom, but not on disgrace.".
The former president called for the film to be avoided: "Give him a mouthful here? Say with one voice that it is permitted and with one voice that it is prohibited? Is that how we want to educate? The whole nation, the day after the murder, wept tears of blood over this murder. What happened, time passed and we forgot? We must not forget. There is respect for life and there are murderers of people. No one has a license to do such a thing, and no one can give a license to do such a thing.".
Culture Minister Miri Regev also announced, from the Knesset stage, that she would reexamine her ministry's funding for the festival that plans to screen the film about Amir: "Is it possible for a state to remain indifferent to the fact that its budget is financing the Jerusalem Festival, which is showing a film about the Prime Minister's murderer, Yigal Amir?"
Meanwhile, the Minister of Culture offered the festival management a compromise outline that the film would be screened outside the festival as part of a pre-premiere event at one of the private cinemas in Jerusalem. If the festival management decides to reject the outline proposed by the Minister, this will result in the freezing of the Ministry of Culture's support budget for this year's festival.
