Released just two years after Jacques Tati's folly-filled depiction of Paris in Play Time, Ephraim Kishon's farce takes a similar – though vastly more talkative – approach to depicting the many manias of urban life.
Blaumilch, an enterprising madman, escapes a mental asylum. He comes across an unattended jackhammer, as though it had been waiting for him all his life. Lugging the tool into downtown Tel Aviv, he sets up on Allenby Street and starts digging.
And digging. Soon the neighbours and passing drivers are up in arms, but a cop tries to bring some order to the situation – by directing traffic and helping Blaumilch with his task. Before long, bureaucrats and municipal offices are at each other's throats trying to figure out whether to denounce the lunatic or take credit for his increasingly popular and industrious work. The political crossfire hits a fever pitch as Blaumilch keeps digging a channel all the way to the Mediterranean.
One of the best-loved comedies of its era, Big Dig was nominated for a Golden Globe for best foreign-language picture. It features some of the period's leading Israeli comedians, and was made in studio with a full-scale recreation of Allenby Street. In its depiction of populist groupthink and dim-witted authority figures, it channels healthy doses of Blake Edwards and Mel Brooks, while its central figure, the inspired obsessive, prefigures the urban compulsives of more recent works like Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express and Dervis Zaim's Somersault in a Coffin.
Big Dig was also released in Israel as Blaumilch Canal, poking fun at the city's penchant for naming thoroughfares after “great men.” With its raucous comedy and satirical edge, the film invites interpretation. It's not hard to imagine the incessant rattle of Blaumilch's jackhammer as a stand-in for endless political conflict – but Tel Aviv was in a more triumphant mood at the time. Instead, Kishon's absurdism leads to a more timeless conclusion: one madman can bring a whole city to a grinding halt – even if he's proven right.
Kate Lawrie Van de Ven
Ephraim Kishon was born Ferenc Hoffmann in Budapest. He changed his name in several iterations over time, eventually settling on Ephraim Kishon upon immigrating to Israel in 1949. A survivor of Nazi concentration camps, he went on to become a well-regarded writer, satirist and filmmaker. His films include
Sallah Shabati (64),
Big Dig (69) and
The Policeman (71).