Concerned Citizen follows Ben and Raz (Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf), a young, attractive and financially secure gay couple who move to a migrant neighborhood in Tel Aviv.
After buying a renovated apartment, they begin to seek a surrogate to help them start a family. Their attempt to create a cozy life is disrupted, however, when Ben, looking to beautify his new street, plants a sapling on their corner.
The tree is not welcomed by all and soon becomes a source of conflict. When matters turn physical, Ben gets the police involved. The situation thrusts his internal prejudices to the surface, racking the liberally-minded Ben with guilt, and forcing him to grapple with his own complicity in the systems of oppression surrounding him.
Winner of the Best Screenplay Prize at the Jerusalem Film Festival, Israeli director Idan Haguel’s film is a morally complex, refreshingly smart dark comedy about personal responsibility and the uneasy balance between assuming the identity of a “concerned” citizenry and the adoption of a victim complex.
Concerned Citizen is a challenging, satirical parable for our times, with themes as relevant to contemporary Tel Aviv as any large city in the world.
Watch the trailer for Concerned Citizen below. The film is now streaming on Dekkoo.
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