The Little Traitor (2009)
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Cast
as Sergeant Dunlop
as Security Officer
as Proffy's Father
as Grandmother Tykocinski
as Proffy Liebowitz
as Chaim Zosoma
as Miriam
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Critic Reviews for The Little Traitor
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (14)
A minor drama about major events.
Doesn't attempt much, doesn't accomplish much, doesn't offer much and doesn't leave you with anything memorable to take home with you.
The Little Traitor bounces between coming-of-age high jinks and clunky geopolitical lessons.
The dialogue and Roth's storytelling manner are heavy handed...
An interesting look at the transitory nature of enemies and the way history shifts alliances.
All in all, a resonant theme, poorly played.
Audience Reviews for The Little Traitor
"The Little Traitor" is a poignant drama of a an unlikely friendship between an Israeli boy and a British soldier in the middle of one of the momentous decades in history.
Heartwarming. Charming...an excellent, well written movie. The actors were chosen very well for their parts, and they did a really great job. Nice little history lesson in this, too. An ending that made me teary eyed. What more can you ask for?...
Super Reviewer
A Palestinian Jew "betrays" his community by forming a friendship with British officer in 1947. The friendship between Sergeant Dunlop and Proffy, played by Alfred Molina and Ido Port respectively, is charming and endearing, and Molina plays the genial father perfectly. As a whole, though, the film has several flaws. Like many Western films about Israel and Palestine, The Little Traitor elides Palestinian Arabs and Muslims from the conversation, condemning them to roles like good-natured merchants with a minute of screen time and a lip-service mention in the film's final moments. It's revisionist history in its worst form, and to suggest that Jews were the only victims of British occupation is myopic and irresponsible. Despite these political concerns, I think director Lynn Roth is less concerned with Zionist politics, which are certainly depicted, and most concerned with a human coming-of-age tale. Even in this, the film fails because of Ido Port's stoic, bland performance. Molina carries their scenes together, but the child actor's reaction shots might as well be an impromptu photograph of Port watching grass grow. Overall, even with Port's poor performance, I found myself thinking that the film - even with its historical amnesia - has its heart in the right place, believing that the way to dispel colonization's violence is through personal friendships rather than political violence; if only Roth had applied the same view to present-day issues in which Proffy and Dunlop's roles are reversed.
Super Reviewer
The Little Traitor Quotes
| Proffy Liebowitz: | They hate me because of Sgt. Dunlop. But my enemy was more of a friend to me than my friends. |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | Why does everyone hate us Jews so much? |
| Miriam: | Because we know a lot. |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | Then maybe we shouldn't know so much. |
| Proffy's Father: | The reason for the hatred my change, but the hatred goes on forever. |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | What should we do? |
| Miriam: | We should be different. We should not hate. |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | Sargent Dunlop! SARGENT DUNLOP! |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | F.O.D! Freedom Or Death! |
| Proffy Liebowitz: | F.O.D! Freedom or death! |