"Was Cocteau thinking of Amos Gitai when he said that a camera can be a wonderful and dangerous weapon in the hands of a poet?"-Bernardo Bertolucci, after acting in Golem(Golem-L'esprit de l'exil). Gitai continues his exploration of the utopian desires of exiles both physical and spiritual (Esther, Berlin-Jerusalem) with this sensually shot (by Henri Alékan) and emotionally scored (by the Stockhausens) film, combining the Golem story with the biblical tale of Ruth and Naomi. Naomi dreams of home but lives in an increasingly xenophobic country, a contemporary Paris standing for Europe as a whole, and finds herself on the road with her faithful daughter Ruth, while the female Golem (Hanna Schygulla) embodies the spirit of exile. In addition to its visual delights, the film also has lovingly executed cameo performances by Fuller, Bertolucci, and Loridan, suggesting that filmmakers are also exiles of a kind.-Paul Willemen, London Film Festival