Shiva

7 DAYS might not be the greatest translation of the title, because the original title is intended to refer more to the prescribed Jewish way of mourning than to the length of the mourning period. In the course of the movie, the full seven days do not even obviously pass. We meet, if I've got this right, the mother, five brothers, and two sisters of the deceased. The family has three major concerns to distract them from proper mourning-- the business that has given most of them a good life is going bankrupt, one of the brothers is running for mayor, and a love triangle is not far beneath the surface. What gives the movie much of its energy is the tension that reverberates because none of those is a fit topic to air out during the mourning period but all are urgent. Moreover the First Gulf War is on, and occasionally a missile alert is sounded. Thus there is always an excuse not to continue a scene past the scriptwriters' and actors' convenience. But they're good actors, including half a dozen of Israel's most respected. Some scenes are a little artificially stylized because of the number of actors who have to be involved without confusion, but all the top actors also get tour de force scenes in twos and threes. Evidently it helps if you can understand the colorful Moroccan Arabic expressions that punctuate the Hebrew and French, but I have to take that on trust.

This is the second movie in a planned trilogy.