In ‘Haircut,’ barber offers a sympathetic ear, free trims after October 7

The conversations between a hairdresser and the soldiers whose hair he trims are shared in “Haircut,” which premiered on Yes Docu Wednesday evening and is available on VOD.

The 52-minute film features hairdresser Alon Mizrahi, who, like many Israelis at the start of the war, wanted to help out in any way he could.

He closed his Tel Aviv salon and drove to the fronts in the north and south, giving haircuts to soldiers and reservists near the assembly areas before going into battle.

Employing his keen hairdresser’s ear while he trimmed, cut and shaved, either inside a tent or outside on the hard-packed earth, Mizrahi heard from the soldiers — men and women of all ages and backgrounds — where they were on October 7, what they anticipated in battle, their hopes and their fears.

At some point, the story of Mizrahi and his shears became fodder for a documentary, as a filmmaking team for Yes Docu, with the support of the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, joined him on his haircutting trips.

Mizrahi is the director of this debut documentary.

Nearly two years into the war, he invited some of those same soldiers back to his Tel Aviv hair salon for another trim to discuss how much their lives had changed. He heard about sorrow and losses, experiences in Gaza and the north, injuries and deaths.

In the film, Mizrahi takes viewers through that particular lens of the war as described by both younger and older soldiers while sitting in his barber’s chair.