A hybrid of realism and fantasy, Udi Aloni’s “Forgiveness,” which opens Friday at Cinema Village for a one-week engagement, is a psychological thriller that explores the tragedies of the Middle East. David (Itay Tiran), a young Israeli-American, returns to his homeland to join the army, only to fall into a catatonic state after accidentally shooting a Palestinian girl while on patrol. He is committed to a psychiatric institution that sits on the ruins of a Palestinian village.

The head psychiatrist tries to cure him with medication, while another patient in the hospital, a Holocaust survivor, tries to redeem him by opening his heart to the ghost that haunts him. David returns to New York under his father’s care, believing that his painful past is behind him — until his love for a Palestinian woman reopens the wounds.