In 2002, Yulia, a Christian immigrant worker from an unnamed Eastern European country, dies in the suicide bombing of a bus in Israel. (Oddly enough, she is the only one in the drama with a name.) She had worked at a bakery but had been fired several weeks earlier. With no family in Israel to claim her body, her remains stay in a morgue for days. Then a paycheck found on her body connects her to the bakery. A reporter (Guri Alfie) submits a story about the irresponsibility of the bakery management for not noticing that she was missing and then not claiming her body.
When the widow (Gila Almagor) who runs the bakery learns about what has happened, she orders her human resources manager (Mark Ivanir) to find out the facts and to make things right. To do so, he visits Yulia's night-shift supervisor, the morgue, and the apartment where she lived. But despite his detective work, the scandal surfaces in the newspaper. Still wincing from a divorce, the human resources manager is stunned when his boss orders him to save face for the company by accompanying Yulia's coffin back to her homeland.
This quest turns out to be life changing as the human resources manager is confronted by a group of irritating people in the Eastern European country. Among them are the reporter who wants to do a follow-up story, a strong-willed and controlling Israeli consul (Rosina Kambus), her patient husband (Julian Negulesco), Yulia's homeless, foul-mouthed son (Noah Silver), and her ex-husband (Bogdan Stanoevitch) Despite the tension and culture shock of the trip, the human resources manager finds his heart opening to the suffering of these people.
This is the third film by Israeli director Eran Rilkis (The Syrian Bride, Lemon Tree), and all three are thoughtful dramas propelled by appealing characters who struggle against various obstacles and are strengthened. The Human Resources Manager is based on a 2006 novel by the famous Israeli novelist Abraham B. Yehoshua. This bittersweet movie conveys the slippery slopes of business ethics in Israel, the chaotic Eastern European country where nothing goes smoothly, and the indifference or complete alienation the human resources manager discovers on his mission of mercy. In a remote village, he finally meets Yulia's mother who reframes for him the right thing to do with Yulia's coffin which has traveled by plane, in a van, and finally in a borrowed tank.
Putting other people first is a noble and compassionate thing to do. That is the solid and substantive message of The Human Resources Manager.
