The film starts in 1945 before the war of independence in Israel, when it is still a British mandate. The timeline shifts to 1953, several years after the state was recognized and when Amos moves to the kibbutz.
Ewan McGregor is Jesus—and the Devil—in an imagined chapter from his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test.
If you build the foundations of peace . . . will it come? This fascinating question lies at the heart of State 194, a vital and revealing look deep inside Israel and Palestine at the men and women trying to seize an historic opportunity to end the conflict and make implementing the two-state solution a reality right now.
Natalie Hershlag, better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon.