The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue (10/10)
by Tony Medley
94 minutes.
R.
The film starts with the morning of October 7, 2023 in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, about 800 meters from the Gaza border. What seemed like an ordinary day suddenly turned into hell on earth as monsters from Hamas descended from the sky and started annihilating the residents with heretofore unmatched brutality, even to beheading infants.
Retired Israeli General Noam Tibon, living in Tel Aviv, received a text from his son, Amir Tibon, who lived in Nahal Oz, 65 miles away, saying. “They are shooting at us” 7:17 am, and that he and his wife and two small daughters had barricaded themselves in their safe room to protect themselves from this terrible attack.
Most residents had a safe room in the event of an attack from Hamas. But these were not just ordinary rooms. This is how they are described by Perplexity, the safe rooms “are reinforced, iron-enforced rooms integrated into each home, intended to protect residents during missile or rocket attacks from Gaza. These rooms are built to strict security standards: they have thick, blast-resistant walls and heavy, solid doors, and they often double as bedrooms or home offices in daily use. Given the proximity of Nahal Oz to the Gaza border, residents have only a few seconds to reach their safe rooms when a rocket siren sounds, making instant accessibility critical.
However, Avir apparently had not stocked their safe room with essential survival necessities like water, food, toilet facilities, anything. From what I gleaned from the movie, it was just an empty room without electricity, so they were trapped, locked in darkness, the only light coming from their cell phones whose batteries were deteriorating. They couldn’t even check what was going on in their house because if they opened the door, the terrorists would kill them if they were present. And they had to keep their two small daughters, 3 ½ and 1 ½ years old, quiet because if there were terrorists in the house, they didn’t know for sure that Avir and his family were in the safe room.
Noam and his wife, Gall, immediately set out for the kibbutz, plunging into battle where others were fleeing. Gall said she should come with him because he needed someone to handle the phone and other things, and he agreed immediately. They tried to keep in contact with Avir through texts.
Noam says, “I was afraid to think about what would happen if I would come and they are not alive…How can I continue my life if they are not alive. I was willing to do everything in order to save my family.”
As they approached the kibbutz, the roads were empty. 62-year-old Noam says, “I’m trying to call everyone who I know, from the military. All my contacts. Nobody responds. We are alone in the world. This is what I felt. Going into the unknown.”
Written and directed by Barry Avrich, this combines recreations of their trip with actual Hamas invasion footage taken by body cams of the terrorists, showing the terrible, blood thirsty killing. Throughout the film there is the commentary by both Noam and Gall as they tell their thrilling, chilling story of how they rescued their family.
This is a traumatic true story that emulates modern thrillers that populate today’s novels and movies. The only difference is that this actually happened, and this film shows it in a frightening, but spellbinding way. It shows the horror of October 7 through the selfless heroism of Noam and Gall that news stories and TV reports cannot do. This is a film of compelling, selfless heroism that will keep you glued to your seats.
Tony Medley is an attorney, columnist, and MPAA-accredited film critic whose reviews and articles may be read in several newspapers and at rottentomatoes.com, CWEB.com, robinhoodnews.com, Movie Review Query Engine (mrqe.com), and at www.tonymedley.com. A former sports editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin, he is the author of four books, UCLA Basketball:The Real Story, Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, the first book ever written on the interview for the interviewee, having sold over a half million copies, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Bridge, which has sold over 100,000 copies, and Learn to Play Bridge Like a Boss. He is an American Contract Bridge League RubyLife Master and an ACBL accredited director. He is a Mensa Life Member and a member of the International Society of Philosophic Research, ISPE (“The Thousand”).
