By John Corrado
Canadian author and filmmaker David Bezmozgis returns to the screen with The Betrayers, a well-acted and intriguing adaptation of his own award-winning 2014 novel of the same name.
The film centres around Baruch (Michael Aronov), a Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician, who is being pushed to enter into a coalition agreement, while facing a personal scandal involving an affair with staffer Leora (Kaelen Ohm). Baruch has escaped to Yalta to be with Leora, enjoying what amounts to a seemingly idyllic vacation away from the obligations of his country and family. But a man from his past in the Soviet Union (Simon McBurney) reemerges, forcing him to grapple with uncomfortable questions.
The film works because of the intricacies of Bezmozgis’s script, with details that are teased out over the course of the tight ninety minute running time. This is politically dense material, but Bezmozgis keeps the story largely focused on these few characters, and the complicated dynamics between them, with its themes of delayed justice and old betrayals. It’s a smart approach, that lets us read more subtext into the film with its allusions to current conflicts, as it builds around the solid performances of Aronov and McBurney.
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