Director Menahem Golan’s smash hit melodrama, which drew more than 600,000 people to cinemas, is based on a story by author and journalist Menahem Talmi, at the heart of which is the eternal struggle between the values of yesteryear and tradition – represented by the older generation – and one’s own desires and thoughts of the future – as represented by the young.
Nissim Bouzaglo (played by famed French actor, Pierre Brasseur) who moved to Israel from Algiers, is a hard-working foreman at a Dead Sea factory. Bouzaglo is an esteemed, beloved figure in his southern hometown of Dimona where he lives in a big house with his children and grandchildren. The Bouzaglos all dream of the wondrous life they will have just as soon as wealthy Frenchman, Monsieur Simone, shows up to cash in on a promise Bouzaglo had made him 18 years ago – that he would give him his daughter, Fortuna’s hand in marriage.
The family keeps a watchful eye on 18-year-old Fortuna, awaiting the arrival of her betrothed, so that the promise made on her behalf before she was even born could be fulfilled and they would at last escape their hard-living existence in Dimona. However, Fortuna ends up falling in love with Pierre (Mike Marshall), a young French engineer who works at the factory.
When Monsieur Simone finally does arrive, he turns out to be a short and stout penniless old man – only Bouzaglo cannot renege on his promise. On the eve of her nuptials, Fortuna runs away with Pierre. One of her brothers, Yosef (Yossi Banai), who’s developed more ‘evolved’ European sensibilities after his military service, is on her side – however her other brother, Haim (Shmulik Kraus), insists on hanging on to the hope and promise of Monsieur Simone’s fortunes at all costs. He hunts the runaway lovers down the Dead Sea sands, all the way to a tragic conclusion.
The wedding scene features performances by legendary Greek singer Aris San, and Israel’s much-beloved singing comedy trio, Hagashah HaHiver (‘the blind tracker.’)
