Nurith Gertz and other scholars argue that at the beginning of the film, Uri displays individualistic traits, but in its second half, he undergoes a "national redemption" and transforms into the quintessential Zionist sabra.

He meets Mika (Iris Yotvat), a young Holocaust survivor from Poland who is finding it difficult to adjust to kibbutz life, and soon falls in love with her.

The film received generous financial support, and became one of the major events celebrating Israel's twentieth anniversary.

[4] Although it garnered mixed reviews, the film had a good box office (selling some 320,000 tickets) and a significant cultural impact.

Shohat, writing about the film's heroic protagonist, noting that in Hebrew language gibor (hero), gever (man), gvura (bravery), ligvor (to conquer, to overpower), and ligvor al (to win) all share the etymological root GBR, reflecting closely linked concepts of bravery, mastery and masculinity which were part of the Israeli "heroic-nationalist" films of this generation.