George,

It was great to read your article on Gitai. I have only seen three
films by him: Kadosh, Kippur and Kedma. I didn't really "get" Kippur
when I saw it so you might be right that it is a better film than
Kedma.
It is possible that there are higher pleasures that Amos Gitai has to
offer but I really wouldn't say "he doesn't know what to do with his
characters" in Kedma. I enjoyed every single scene in that film
including the ones you mention.

My favorite of his is still Kadosh that I saw twice on film and once
on video.

Seems like we'll have a chance to see his new film very soon, which
is very exciting.
And I think you'll be happy to know that he seems to be popular in
Istanbul (the city where I'm from). Kedma was shown in some huge
theatres that never show "art films".

Yoel