By the time "Broken Wings," impressively written and directed by Nir Bergman, has run its course, there is a feeling of having gotten to know the various family members intimately. Actress Orli Zilbershatz-Banai is ever so realistic in her portrayal of Dafna, a widow and mother. Her husband died under absurd circumstances, which are not revealed until late in the film. Dafna works as a midwife in a hospital and struggles to raise her family of four. The going is tough.

Maya, her 17 year-old daughter, played by Maya Maron with troubled intensity as a teenager self-absorbed with her own needs, wants to write and perform songs and is with a group just getting started. But her home duties interfere with performing gigs. She is full of rage, some of it fueled by the deep loss she feels for her father and guilt that she bears because of what happened on the fateful day of his death, and her emotional outlet involves battling with her mother.

Maya's 16-year-old brother Yair (Nitai Gvirtz), in another convincing performance, also bears the hurt and sees no sense in the world. Philosophizing about his nihilistic feelings, he has dropped out of school and resists pressure to return. The other children are Ido (Daniel Magon) age 11, who likes to jump into a drained swimming pool after setting a camera to photograph him in motion, and his cute sister Bahr (Eliana Magon), who is six and showing a rebellious streak. We get seriously acquainted with all of them and gain insight into the family's daily struggles and conflicts.

Bergman indulges in a burst of melodrama, but the film never seems other than sincere and well developed, whether there are moments of humor, as when Ido tries to make his younger sister think she has wet her bed, or whether a point is being made about coping with loss. One heartbreaking shot in which Bahr looks longingly at a man walking down the street with his child on his shoulders tells all we need to know about how much she misses her father. We also are cued into the loneliness of Dafna, and when she gets to know a new doctor at the hospital, Valentin Goldman, played with welcome reserve by Vladimir Freedman, the vibes between them are charmingly understated.

A scene of attempted sex between Maya and a boyfriend is also handled gingerly. There is just enough to communicate Maya's longings, effort at assertiveness and sensible knowledge about when to hold back so that she doesn't do something that she'll regret.