The Optimist and the Buddhist 2012 After a separation of more than a decade, Noam, the conscience ridden director of the film, returns to the kibbutz where he grew up to save Zach, his childhood friend who has become a reclusive handicapped refusing rehabilitation Noam devises a consistent and exhausting training routine with the aim of helping Zach run again, or at least move more easily A touching and humorous friendship between two men who try to change their lives and fight their relentless emotionally charged past