Third Temple is an Israeli Independent short film (28 minutes) directed by Itai Guberman and Asaf Angel. It stars Ben Sela (Avner Peles), Amitai Kedar (Ze’ev Har’el), Tomer Lev Tov (Man in Mask) Neta Bar Refael (Dina), Josh Sagie (Snir Birron) and Moshe Shachar (Ron Eitan).
The film opens in Israel on Israeli Independence Day 2017. A quiet shot of the city skyline moves into a time lapse shot of a street. The hustle and bustle of everyone doing their daily routines. Cut to black and we are treated to the image of a man tied to a chair with a burlap sack over his head. Shortly he is joined by one of his captors.
A man wearing a blank white mask begins removing items from a backpack after removing the sack from his captive’s head. He unnervingly remains silent for a portion of time. When he speaks is when things start to get interesting.
Third Temple takes a poignant look at the current state of the government in Israel. Its almost unapologetic with how it handles what is happening. The directors don’t pull any punches along the way either. This film serves as a reminder that the governments of the world work for their people.
When Avner Peles wakes up confronted by a man in a white mask, he tries to find out what has happened and why he is where he is. The journey to those answers is an illuminating one for Avner. He is now in a race against time to find out why he has been taken and what he must do to be freed.
On this outing, Itai Guberman teamed up with Asaf Angel to direct this political thriller. He came armed with an outstanding script and a crew of dedicated actors who made this film something to think about. The camera work is beautifully done and everything brought together gives you a feeling of tension unmatched by many American political thrillers.
If you want a film that will make you question what is really going on behind closed doors, then this is the film for you. Totaled this film gets an 8/10