Alfred Molina gives a warm and engaging performance as an occupying British soldier who, in 1947 Palestine, strikes up a friendship with a little Jewish kid in the sentimental drama “The Little Traitor.”
The movie, partly funded by the state of Israel, is a feel-good piece told from the point of view of the 12-year-old kid (Ido Port), who imagines himself a freedom fighter sworn to driving the British out of his land. He begins to rethink his position as the Molina character teaches him about snooker and girls. Soon the boy finds himself accused of being a pro-British spy.
A pleasing but light nostalgia piece with a frustratingly hasty ending, “The Little Traitor” doesn’t lead to any big twist or revelation. For viewers with a fondness for Israel, though, it amounts to cinematic comfort food.
In Hebrew and English with English subtitles. Running time: 89 minutes. Not rated (sexual situations). At the Quad, 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.