Jewish Film Festival: Historical thriller tells story of star-crossed lovers, set in 1938 Tel Aviv

Cate Marquis, Special to the Jewish Light

Published March 21, 2025

Renowned British director Michael Winterbottom’s “Shoshana” takes a rare look at Israeli history before it was Israel, and the roots of conflict and impact of British colonial rule, a true tale told through the story of star-crossed lovers. The story is set in 1938 Tel Aviv, with young lovers Jewish journalist/Zionist Shoshana Borochov (Irina Starshenbaum) and British policeman Thomas Wilkins (Douglas Booth), assigned to the anti-terrorism task force attempting to control violence between Jewish settlers and Palestinian Arabs.

These two were real people, but Winterbottom’s focus is really on history rather than the love story at its center. The film is more a crime/historical thriller than a romance, with the couple swept up in events, some violent and even bloody. That real history focus makes this film an intriguing window into Israel’s past, and also means the story has a complexity and shades of gray often missing from fictional ones, looking at the roots of conflict and the impact of colonialism.

“Shoshana” opens with black-and-white archival footage and voice-over narration as opening credits roll, beginning with 19th century Ottoman Palestine, then recapping early Zionism and the start of Jews moving to the Promised Land. The narrator is Shoshana herself, who also describes her own family’s move to Israel. This sequence brings the history up to the film’s start, under British rule post-World War I.

That is a lot of history very quickly, and the film is just starting. As the story really begins, Shoshana and Thomas have fallen in love, while Zionist Jews and Arabs are exchanging terror attacks, and the British police try to stop them both. Some Zionists believe in a peaceful approach to building Israel, but others think violence is needed. Shoshana is firmly in the first group, but she still volunteers as security as new kibbutzim are set up. The British regard both the non-violent and violent Zionist groups as illegal and crack down on Arabs and Jews alike.

Although Tom agrees with Shoshana’s views, he still must do his job as a policeman on the anti-terror task force. When a new leader for that group, Geoffrey Morton (Harry Melling), arrives, things take a deadly turn, including an intense hunt for Zionist freedom fighter Avraham Stern (Aury Alby).

Tense, thrilling, romantic and tragic, “Shoshana” is a well-made, well-acted, beautifully shot film that offers a slice of little-seen real history under British rule, set against a moving, tragic true love story.