The somber tone is blatant from the movie's beginning.

A slight 17-year-old girl in angel wings finds out that she didn't fare well in a battle of the bands. She bikes home — angel wings flapping behind her — to a place where life doesn't get any better.

This is the opening scene of "Broken Wings," an Israeli movie that won nine Israeli Academy Awards.

Maya Maron, one of the film's lead actors, was on hand to answer questions Thursday night as community members and students gathered in 147 Communication Arts and Sciences for a screening of the movie.

The film is the antithesis of mainstream American movies in which dire circumstances really aren't so bad after all.

"I like a film that stays with you for a couple days," Maron said. "I like this kind of dark, heavy film."

Her character, Maya Ulman, ends up taking charge and picking up the pieces of her life after her father dies. Her youngest brother, Ido, is bullied at school and starts videotaping his jumps from a cement pool. He has the youngest sibling, Bahr, tape him diving to the concrete one day. Ido jumps from the ledge and falls unconscious.

Bahr, who is only in kindergarten, is left to navigate by herself through the city streets to find help. There's another heart-wrenching scene when Bahr is left at school alone.

Then there's the brother closest in age to Maya, Yair. He's closed the door on school and relationships. He insists that people are just mere specks in the scheme of the universe. He works as a mouse mascot who hands out fliers. Yair says that fliers and diplomas are both paper — they're all the same anyway.

Tying together this sublimely sad movie is the rundown mother, Dafna. She is the portrait of desperation. She works night shifts at the hospital as a midwife. She can't take care of herself and her family. Orli Zilberschatz-Banai plays the role so well it's hard to believe that she is actually a comedian in Israel.

"It was really genuine characters and dialogues even though the dialogue didn't come across entirely through the translation," Maron said. "The relationship between the characters is really sensitive and realistic."

Maron said the dark biting reality appeals to her. It is, after all, not an escapist movie. The shrewd reality is universal in the movie. It doesn't matter so much that it's set in Haifa. It could be about any family in any place.

"It's one of the roles most close to my heart," Maron said. "I was really emotionally involved in this process."

MSU Hillel, Jewish Studies and the Department of Linguistics and Languages sponsored the event. Maron's tour of the United States is part of FeminIsrael, a program of the Consulate General of Israel and USD/Hagshama to share the talent of Israeli women.