Haim Beargazim (2004)

These are the last days of a shantytown quarter in southern Tel Aviv, a poor rundown neighborhood that the municipality has always tried to erase from the map. The land was sold to a contractor and he plans to evict the residents and settle them in a couple of seven-story towers to be constructed on the same site. The film accompanies the director's sister, Orly, who lives in a small house she inherited from their grandfather; Yitzhak, their uncle (known to the locals as "Popeye"), who built the neighborhood's makeshift houses with his own hands; Oshri, the postman, making his endless rounds in the ever changing streets and attorney Ovadia who calls upon the neighborhood's inhabitants to unite and to fight the eviction. For three years, Ovadia and the residents have been struggling against the municipality and the contractor in a public, legal and ultimately existential battle and they display the strength that comes from working together towards a common goal. During the struggle, we see the sisters' deep attachment to the neighborhood, through old diaries that their late father wrote, and through Popeye's courtyard, in which time stands still. "Living in Boxes" follows the people that make up the human fabric of one of the last true neighborhoods in Israel, a small village whose story sets a mirror that reflects the State of Israel's attitude to those who happen to live at the wrong place.