Maktub (2017) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Maktub is set in Jerusalem, Israel, with the Western Wall and Mahane Yehuda Market serving as the primary locations. The city provides both a spiritual backdrop through its holiest sites and a vibrant everyday setting through its bustling neighborhoods and markets.

• setting
• jerusalem
• israel
• location

The Western Wall is central to Maktub because visitors leave handwritten wishes and prayers tucked between its stones. These notes become the catalyst for the main characters' mission of wish fulfillment, and the Wall itself embodies the film's themes of faith, hope, and divine intervention.

• western wall
• wailing wall
• prayer notes
• wishes

Mahane Yehuda Market adds color and authenticity to Maktub's Jerusalem setting. Known for its fresh produce, spices, and bustling vendors, it provides a lively, lived-in contrast to the spiritual weight of the Western Wall and grounds the story in the everyday rhythm of the city.

• mahane yehuda market
• jerusalem market
• vendors
• spices

Maktub centers on two interconnected themes: faith and fatherhood. After surviving a terrorist attack, the protagonists interpret their survival as a divine calling and begin fulfilling wishes, while their journey also examines how chosen family and paternal bonds can transform even hardened individuals.

• faith
• fatherhood
• redemption
• themes
• second chances

Fatherhood in Maktub is presented as something earned rather than inherited. Through Chuma's evolving bond with the lonely boy Avishar, the film shows how a nurturing father figure can emerge from unlikely circumstances, emphasizing the transformative power of caring relationships across biological boundaries.

• fatherhood
• family
• avishar
• chuma
• father figure

Faith operates as both the spark and the ongoing engine of Maktub. After surviving a terrorist attack, Steve and Chuma believe they were spared for a divine purpose and commit to fulfilling the wishes left at the Western Wall, blending spirituality, morality, and misguided enthusiasm to define the film's hopeful yet comedic tone.

• faith
• divine intervention
• spirituality
• purpose

Steve, played by Hanan Savyon, is a Jerusalem mobster in Maktub who begins the story focused on survival and money. Over the course of the film, he undergoes a transformation, eventually accepting a fatherly role and turning his criminal partnership with Chuma into one rooted in responsibility and care.

• steve
• hanan savyon
• mobster
• character arc

Chuma, played by Guy Amir, is the other half of the criminal duo who survive the Jerusalem attack in Maktub. Deeply affected by what he interprets as a divine purpose, he becomes especially drawn to the wish of a lonely boy and struggles to balance his gangster identity with a newly discovered tender, fatherly side.

• chuma
• guy amir
• mobster
• father figure

Avishar, played by Abraham Celektar, is a lonely boy in Maktub seeking parental affection and belonging. His wish left at the Western Wall sets much of the story in motion, and his bond with Chuma becomes the emotional heart of the film's exploration of fatherhood and chosen family.

• avishar
• abraham celektar
• lonely boy
• western wall wish

Bruria, played by Edna Blilious, is a woman struggling with infertility in Maktub whose longing for a child becomes one of the wishes that draws Steve and Chuma into her life. She embodies the film's themes of hope and unfulfilled desire, reflecting the emotional weight of motherhood under societal pressure.

• bruria
• edna blilious
• infertility
• motherhood
• hope

Maktub carries a redemptive, feel-good tone despite its dark premise of terrorism and organized crime. The pairing of serious subject matter with a warm, hopeful atmosphere and absurdist humor defines it as a comedic drama about second chances, with an unambiguously happy ending.

• tone
• comedy drama
• feel-good
• redemption
• happy ending