Back in Noga’s room, she recites the speech she has worked on, and Lea praises her for doing a good job. Lea then tells her that she needs to go home now, and Noga offers to walk her to her car, casually telling her father, Matan, that she will be sending off her friend. Noga hugs Lea before the latter goes inside her car and calls her once again to confess that she loves her. Lea initially thought that it was just an “I love you” towards a friend, but gets surprised when Noga says that she loves Lea romantically. After seeing the bothered look on Noga’s face, Lea offers to drive them around for a while so they can calm down and talk further. Noga immediately gets inside the car, and Lea drives them towards a local parking area. The ride throughout is spent in silence and awkwardness between the two. Noga apologizes for her sudden confession, but Lea tells her to stop apologizing and admits that it drove her crazy. Lea then pulls Noga close and kisses her, and the latter returns, hesitantly at first, until she becomes confident as well. They stop kissing when they hear and notice a police car arriving with the police officer approaching them. The police officer questions the two about the nature of their relationship and asks for Lea’s ID, which the latter gives after also asking for proof of the police officer’s profession. She gains an unsolicited comment that she doesn’t look similar to the picture in her ID but accepts it otherwise. The police officer also tries to ask for Noga’s ID, but Lea butts in to say that she’s a minor, that she is visiting, and that they are just friends who are driving around. In the end, the police officer lets them go after reminding them to go home. Noga requests that Lea drive her back home, and although the latter answers that she’s not supposed to do that, she still did.
At home, Daliya and Matan call Noga for a private talk and question her whereabouts for being late when she was just supposed to walk Lea to her car. Noga goes defensive after Daliya tells her to always advise them in advance if she will be home late, as they worry about her. Matan questions the relationship between Lea and Noga, where the latter explains that Lea is a twenty-two-year-old friend from ALFI, the group she recently joined and they are organizing a protest. She continues that her parents may say they are sort of friends, prompting Matan and Daliya to say that Lea is still a stranger to them, and Noga not bringing her phone made them worried. The three argue, with Noga defending Lea and her parents, insisting that going out late at night with just the girl is dangerous. Noga admits that she and Lea kissed but is unable to answer when Matan asks if she’s a lesbian. Daliya pats Noga’s shoulder and says that it’s okay if she’s a lesbian, and they will still accept her. However, Noga seems to still be undecided and insists that they are just friends and that it was just a kiss between the two of them. She exclaims that Matan and Daliya should be grateful that she is being honest with them, unlike other kids her age. This made Matan more angry, and he told Noga that people of Lea’s age shouldn’t be hanging around with teenagers, making his daughter bring up the age difference between him and Daliya as well. While Daliya waits for the father and daughter to calm down, she tells Noga that Lea being a lesbian is fine with them; however, they still think she is a bad influence for driving her late at night. Noga continues to defend Lea, but the angry Matan argues back at her and even comments on how Lea looks. To spite her father, Noga screams that she might get the same haircut as Lea does in the future and walks out of the room, leaving her parents staring at each other frustratingly. Matan orders Noga to quit ALFI and even calls it a cult before berating his wife for letting Noga do whatever she wants to do, starting with being a vegan. As Noga cries inside her room, where she had a good time with Lea just a few hours earlier that day, her parents continue to argue in the background.
Writer’s Thoughts:
In the short film ‘Alfi’ a person demonstrates how they strive to stand up for their beliefs regardless of what other people think. Although Noga answers back to her parents, who genuinely care about her welfare, it also shows that prejudice still exists among older individuals and those who we might assume to be smarter, potentially clouding their perception of things beyond appearance. It is important to note that dating is legal in Israel at sixteen means that what happened between Lea and Noga is neither illegal nor deemed to be taken advantage of, even though Lea may have felt guilty about being the older person and knowing that Noga looked up to her. Though it would have been nice to see how things went further, we believe the movie aims to make us consider more than just the sapphic aspect of it—namely, how different individuals can unite in pairs or groups, irrespective of age or gender, and fight for causes they believe in—be they humanitarian causes or just taking care of other living things.
Enjoy watching ‘Alfi’ on a bigger screen because GagaOOLala is now available to watch on your smart TVs by downloading the app on Google Play, Amazon App Store, and Roku.
Editor’s note: Permanent ceasefire is important right now to save Palestinian lives.
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