The first film in Gitai's trilogy about Israeli cities, Devarim is based on one of modern Hebrew literature's richest novels, Yaakov Shabtai's Past Continuous (Zichron Devarim). Devarim examines the spiritual bankruptcy of three men in their thirties and forties against the backdrop of the bustle and turmoil of Tel Aviv. In a densely structured narrative, Gitai cuts between stories of the three men, none of whom is living the life he imagines. At the film's outset, two of them set off to attend the funeral of the father of their friend Goldman (played by Gitai himself) but are unsure of its location. The crisis in the characters reflects the mood of their generation, and points to a crisis in Israeli society as the sons and grandsons of the founding generation come into their own. Tel Aviv figures both as a place and allegorically-a city swept by the hamsin, a desert wind that can drive people mad.