Every Time We Say Goodbye (1986)

An American flyer who joined the RAF before his country was in the war is recovering from a leg injury in Jerusalem. Through an English friend he meets a quiet Jewish girl whose close-knit family originally came from Spain. The two are attracted to each other but she is convinced their diverse backgrounds mean it could never work; not only is he a gentile his father is a protestant minister. So though they keep running into each other in the small community they find themselves just as frequently parting again.System Requirements:Running Time: 98 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396144880 Manufacturer No: 14488 Product Description

Movie Buff

Found this movie quite entertaining. Tom Hanks is very good as usual. Would recommend it to others. Mike Z. August 4, 2008

A Small Forgotten Beauty

"Every Time We Say Goodbye"

A Small Forgotten Beauty

Amos Lassen

"Every Time We Say Goodbye" is one of those movies that opened with no fanfare and then quietly disappeared. This is surprising as Tom Hanks, a box office champion, plays the lead. We can only hope that now that it is available on DVD that it will get its just due. (The film also stars my favorite actress and friend, Gila Almagor, a noted Israeli actress).
Hanks is a World War II American pilot who is stationed in Jerusalem and who falls in love with a beautiful Sephardic girl, Sarah Perrera (Cristina Marsillach). Her family is against the two seeing each other and the film focuses on their forbidden love affair and we see the despair of human prejudices and the optimism of human determination, Sara is caught between two dilemmas--her family traditions and her love for someone "different". We also get to see the unique lifestyle of Sephardic Jews and hear the beauty of the Ladino language (a now dead language once spoken by the Sephardim).
The story is uncontrived and straight forward. Both Hanks and Marsillach give outstanding performances and the chemistry between the two is amazing. The two are worlds apart but love brings them together. The flow of emotion between them is caught up in the tensions of Sara's family.
As I mentioned before, Ladino is spoken by Sara's family. It was the language spoken by the Jews of Spain around the time that Ferdinand and Isabella expelled the Jews from Spain (c.1492).This gives the film a kind of time capsule quality as the language has not changed over the years and it is very rare that we hear the language actually spoken.
Another interesting aspect of the film is that it underscores the inertia of human relations. The world was in the midst of war and the fate of an entire people was at stake yet we still hold onto the differences between people.
The most unforgettable scene in the film is when Sara's father calmly but strictly tells his daughter that is she marries the pilot that she will be dead to him. He says this as if he were telling her a bedtime story and as cold as it is, it shows us an aspect of Jewish life that we do not often get to see..
"Every Time We Say Goodbye" is one of those movies that is real and raw and is just beautiful to watch. The photography of Jerusalem stuns the eyes and the young lovers capture our hearts.
May 10, 2008

A non-common cultural conflict in Cinema

Palestina occupied by the British, Europe and the north of Africa occupied by the Nazis. A beautiful but dramatic love story among a British Romeo (he is American, but fights for the British Army, so he is at the same time defending Europe and Africa, AND a member of the occupation forces in future Israel. Juliet comes from one of the most ortodox jewish families: Sephardim are still, after the Hassidics of course, one of the most conservative subcultures in Jewish tradition. A difficult romance, that makes you love them also and want them to be together for the rest of their lives. Though in a difficult world. Both Cristina Marsillach and a very young Tom Hanks are great! April 9, 2008

A Hidden Hanks treasure

A 1986 film featuring pre-Academy award winner Tom Hanks. A young American pilot falls in love with a Jewish Spanish girl in Israel and there frequnt partings get in the way of love as much as her family. Hanks' character is the son of a Protestant minister while the girl's family are devout Jews who fled Spain 400 years earlier but preserved the language over the centuries. It is beautifully filmed, much like A Walk in the Clouds, and brings a touching rendition of love in a time of war in an ancient city. August 20, 2007

Lovely Movie

I loved this movie.
I saw it for the first time on BBC-tv a couple of years ago but didn't record it and then spent ages searching for it, finding it eventually on Amazon USA (Amazon UK didn't have it).
Hanks is a recuperating American RAF pilot in Jerusalem, who meets Marsillach through another RAF pilot and it is the story of their forbidden love (He's the son of a Protestant minister and she's from an Orthodox Sephardic family).
Being Jewish myslef I can understand some of the torment involved in such a relationship, and the ending is not your usual sugar-coated Hollywood "it all turns out right in the end" style movie.
This movie has a wonderful feel about it and Hanks and Marsillach play their parts beautifully. Buy it and enjoy.
The only fault I can find is that whilst it is set in 1942, Hanks is flying a 1944 P51D Mustang fighter. Also, the DVD box has a picture of a B17 on it and they weren't used in North Africa in 1942 (but only a "picky" Brit like me would spot that!) August 9, 2007

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