Excellent movie and one of the better love stories I have seen. What made the movie so engaging was the terrific acting of the two leads. Tom Hanks and the lovely Spanish actress Cristina Marsillach. There was real chemistry between the two actor/actress and their passionate love affair overcame everything in the end. Even though its set in WW2 we don't see anything of the fighting of WW2. Except a story about a strong love affair by two people in a time of war. To make this a very enjoyable movie to watch. A forgotten gem from the 1980s, which I first came across back in the 1990s. Definitely 2 hours well spent if anything just for watching Tom Hanks and Christina Marsillach at their best on screen.

This movie is not for everyone. However, I think it's a nice attempt at a WWII Casablanca type of plot. Casablanca was a bit like capturing lightening in a bottle, not easy to do. This movie manages it, I think.I enjoyed this movie for a variety of reasons. A young Tom Hanks holds up his end. Not easy to do in this case - he has to believably play an American who went off to join the RAF before America became involved in WWII. If he isn't able to do this, the movie falls apart. Of course it has to be an American because that's the target audience, and that's part of the Casablanca meme.Here's what I like about the movie: First: It shows you a little window into the Ladino world. It's interesting. Some people find it was harsh. But my father grew up in an ethnically German family in Chicago and he still remembers his father slapping his sister for having gone on a date with a boy of Italian descent. My brother married a Jewish girl and I don't think his in-laws ever got over the fact he wasn't Jewish. So the movie captures the times well: old cultures colliding with a new era of integration that would really pick up steam once the war ends.Second: Jerusalem has been the center of a political storm ever since the end of World War II. But here we get to view and imagine Jerusalem as a peaceful back drop, where Hanks and other units go to convalesce, from the rest of the world that is waging in a world at war. To me, its a bit bizarre and serine and I really value the aspect of viewing Jerusalem that way. I can't imagine it that way now, but this movie allows me to imagine it that way back in the days it portrays.Like Casablanca, it takes place in a similar climate, in a similar place, just collateral to the world at war, and like Casablanca the source of the tension is the constraints placed upon a true love relationship, like Casablanca, the movie ends at a scene in an airport where two lovers must be separated.Better than Casablanca, the chemistry between Hanks and Marsillach over Bogart/Bergman (I think this is because Marsillach was husbanding some kind of internal tension at the time, and tension contributes to chemistry). Better than Casablanca the props, surrounding cast members and their roles (with important exceptions to Claude Rains and company, I'm talking about the non-character actors in Casablanca) and the setting. Unlike Casablanca, the plane taking off and the airport are all real, the city and the settings all look real as they are really in Jerusalem, not a Hollywood lot. Unfortunately the only fighter plane they used is a lone P-51d (or later version). The RAF wouldn't have flown those in the first half of 1942, and especially not in the Middle East (the Israeli Airforce had them, though, later on). That theatre was dominated by Hawker Hurricanes of Battle of Britain fame. I know I'm being picky here. Unlike Casablanca, the ending is hopeful for the relationship, but ambiguous. We don't know what will happen to the couple, but we do know to what course they have committed each other too.For some reason, I would have liked more back story... Hanks decision to leave Missoula Montana, when and how he went about that, crossing into Canada and signing up, then off to war. Where though? England first? Battle of Britain? Then I'd like to have seen post story plot as well. Where does Hanks character end up? How does he end up? What's Marsillach's character's life like while he's away? How does she break her engagement with her cousin? What does she tell here parents and family and how does she cope with the intervening year? When and how does Hanks make his way back? Do they stay in Israel? If so does he join up with the Israeli Air Force? Where do they go after the war? America? Britain? Canada? What happens with the relationship and how do they make their way? Its a low budget movie. They did quite well with it, all things considered. I just would love the makers to redo it as a mini series or something. I would prefer, however, that they choose to leave Jerusalem and move to a land where there is little conflict. I could see them moving to Los Angeles, and Hanks getting a job in the aircraft industry there. The climate would be similar to Jerusalem's and there's sizeable Jewish communities there, many of which are familiar with the integration issues and so I think that would create the best spot. And for the next 50 years of their lives things would be peaceful. Eventually Sarah's family comes to visit. Perhaps they immigrate too, to get away from the conflicts in the Middle East, provide more opportunities for their large family, and be closer to their daughter. Well, there, I guess I just wrote my own sequel. The major theme being, after a world at war, a war fought mainly over nationalism, they retreat into peace, prosperity, integration and pluralism. I'm sorry for the conflict in the Middle East and Jerusalem particularly. The fact that Jerusalem is cast as a peaceful, restful backward to a world at war is what makes this movie so compelling.

I really enjoyed the movie when I first saw it years ago, and when I saw it was available on DVD, I had to buy it. Second watching was not as enjoyable as I noticed a few glaring historical flaws. On the DVD cover there is a picture of a B17 alongside Hanks in his RAF uniform. The B17 does not appear in the movie, neither did the RAF use them in the North African desert. The plane Hanks actually flies is a 1944, Rolls-Royce Merlin powered P51 Mustang, complete with bubble canopy (The movie is set in 1942, just before El Alamein) However, apart from that, a great movie to watch - Jerusalem looks fantastic. Its good to see a movie about Sephardic Jews (I get so sick of always seeing Jewish people portrayed as Ashkenazi - You know "Oy Vay, my life already!) Buy it, watch it, enjoy (Oy Vay!)

I just finished watching this movie from start to finish, and wondered weather i could by it on DVD, thats how much i liked it...but unfortunately its not available on DVD. while i was watching it - i kept laughing at some parts of the movie cause the portrayal of the Jewish family reminded me of how true some middle eastern families are...i enjoyed this movie - it had many good points but it wasn't anything wow or spectacular - cause it was rather weak in some areas thats why its understandable why its not that well known or everyones favourite love movie...there isn't much to the plot - thats why i don't feel i can talk about it without feeling I'm giving to much away...and the direction isn't strong and it leaves something to be desired and not to mention the acting at some points feel rather fake or maybe fake is too a strong a word to use and the right word to use would be weak. I'm sad to say that because there was so much potential to this film to have become something really really special - but its let down in so many areas that its not just one thing that can make it better...but saying all that it still has some parts that are really wonderful and moments that just might melt your heart if even they are only but for a few seconds - they are wonderful moments...i think if it didn't feel so dated maybe it would have felt more real and there for more believable...i really enjoyed it and for those of you that like Tom Hanks maybe you should try and get a hold of a copy to view... but over all its a great film - really worth watching - mind you - its not for everyone - but then again what film is?