Post by Return of the Thin Olive Duke on Jun 29, 2016 22:47:12 GMT -5
The Band's Visit
ביקור התזמורת
Dir. Eran Kolirin
Premiered in Israel September 13, 2007
With a population of only 8.5 million people, the republic of Israel produces twice as many films per capita as the United States. Usually, countries that small struggle to make more than one A-list movie in a year. But Israel, as ever, has survived and thrived. Israeli films also get a fair amount of play in the United States, partly because half of Hollywood is Jewish, partly because Israel’s prestige films tend toward dour explorations of cultural understanding that pander to western sensibilities about the Middle East.
This calculated appeal might be why Israel has failed to enter the canon of great filmmaking nations; whereas several European and Asian countries can produce long lists of well-known filmmakers, the most recognizable names in Israeli Cinema are Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, best known (wrongly) for making B-movies in the United States.
The Band’s Visit is, as far as I can tell, the only one of fourteen Israeli films in 2007 to get a limited US release. It was considered for a Best Foreign Language Oscar, but was disqualified due to the sizable amount of English in the film (it is rumored that the producers of another Israeli film, Beaufort, lobbied against it in self-interest). Is it just another Israeli movie? Well, yes. But while it certainly caters to American audiences, its interest is a bit closer to home.
The Alexandria Police Orchestra arrives in Israel as part of a cultural exchange. Heading to Petah Tikva for a concert, the Israelis misunderstand the Egyptian musicians’ accents (Arabic having no letter “p”) and send them on a bus to Beit HaTikva, a poor, lifeless hamlet on the country’s southern fringe.
Stranded there for the night, kindly shopkeeper Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) and her friend Avrum (Rubi Moskivitz) offer them their respective apartments to sleep, where the band members get an unorthodox introduction to Israeli life. Aspiring composer Simon (Khalifa Natour) bonds with his host Avrum, a depressed, unemployed father trying to get by in the southern wastes. Haled (Saleh Bakri), a ridiculously handsome violinist, trumpeter, and Chet Baker superfan, goes out on the town looking for a good time and instructs his israeli guide Papi (Shlomi Avraham) on the vagaries of dating. And conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), a stuffy widower, briefly finds a kindred spirit in the lonely but radiant Dina.
Despite much of the film being in English (Israeli English being a curious mashup of American attitude and British idiom, in contrast to the comically formal Egyptians), The Band’s Visit probably means a lot more to Israelis. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel– a deeply uneasy peace that most Egyptians, even today, view as a distasteful necessity. Israel, meanwhile, is far more well-versed in Arabic culture than the Egyptians expect– a tenth of Israelis are Arabs rather than Jews, most Israeli Jews are just a few generations removed from the wider Arab world, Israel gets plenty of radio and television signals from its neighbors, and of course Arabic is co-official with Hebrew– and the Israelis are surprised by the Egyptians’ cavalier attitude toward women, alcohol, and jazz music (this is complicated even more by Egypt’s historic ambivalence toward “Arab” identity). The Egyptians and Israelis would look at home in each other’s countries, and rather like each other.
If this sounds morally simplistic, you’re kind of right. But even if you don’t know the context, it’s a pretty enjoyable little film. And the message is definitely rooted in experience, rather than the oversimplified American point of view– a view that curiously identifies Israel with the West, and which the film pointedly and proudly refutes.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
I’ve never been to Egypt, either before or after the Revolution, but the visiting Egyptians definitely seem to come from a slightly more secular country than we’re familiar with today. Tawfiq orders his men to be on their best behavior, but this doesn’t stop young Haled from carousing and drinking without comment from his superior.
Additional Notes
If 2007 is the greatest year in film, it is entirely because of the American film industry. This project has taken us on detours to Britain, France, Ireland, Romania, and Israel, and will very soon take us to Korea and Spain. But legendary filmmaking centers Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, and Japan are totally unrepresented, their only US releases of the year having been holdovers from 2006.
Next Time: Across the Universe
ביקור התזמורת
Dir. Eran Kolirin
Premiered in Israel September 13, 2007
With a population of only 8.5 million people, the republic of Israel produces twice as many films per capita as the United States. Usually, countries that small struggle to make more than one A-list movie in a year. But Israel, as ever, has survived and thrived. Israeli films also get a fair amount of play in the United States, partly because half of Hollywood is Jewish, partly because Israel’s prestige films tend toward dour explorations of cultural understanding that pander to western sensibilities about the Middle East.
This calculated appeal might be why Israel has failed to enter the canon of great filmmaking nations; whereas several European and Asian countries can produce long lists of well-known filmmakers, the most recognizable names in Israeli Cinema are Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, best known (wrongly) for making B-movies in the United States.
The Band’s Visit is, as far as I can tell, the only one of fourteen Israeli films in 2007 to get a limited US release. It was considered for a Best Foreign Language Oscar, but was disqualified due to the sizable amount of English in the film (it is rumored that the producers of another Israeli film, Beaufort, lobbied against it in self-interest). Is it just another Israeli movie? Well, yes. But while it certainly caters to American audiences, its interest is a bit closer to home.
The Alexandria Police Orchestra arrives in Israel as part of a cultural exchange. Heading to Petah Tikva for a concert, the Israelis misunderstand the Egyptian musicians’ accents (Arabic having no letter “p”) and send them on a bus to Beit HaTikva, a poor, lifeless hamlet on the country’s southern fringe.
Stranded there for the night, kindly shopkeeper Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) and her friend Avrum (Rubi Moskivitz) offer them their respective apartments to sleep, where the band members get an unorthodox introduction to Israeli life. Aspiring composer Simon (Khalifa Natour) bonds with his host Avrum, a depressed, unemployed father trying to get by in the southern wastes. Haled (Saleh Bakri), a ridiculously handsome violinist, trumpeter, and Chet Baker superfan, goes out on the town looking for a good time and instructs his israeli guide Papi (Shlomi Avraham) on the vagaries of dating. And conductor Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), a stuffy widower, briefly finds a kindred spirit in the lonely but radiant Dina.
Despite much of the film being in English (Israeli English being a curious mashup of American attitude and British idiom, in contrast to the comically formal Egyptians), The Band’s Visit probably means a lot more to Israelis. Egypt was the first Arab country to make peace with Israel– a deeply uneasy peace that most Egyptians, even today, view as a distasteful necessity. Israel, meanwhile, is far more well-versed in Arabic culture than the Egyptians expect– a tenth of Israelis are Arabs rather than Jews, most Israeli Jews are just a few generations removed from the wider Arab world, Israel gets plenty of radio and television signals from its neighbors, and of course Arabic is co-official with Hebrew– and the Israelis are surprised by the Egyptians’ cavalier attitude toward women, alcohol, and jazz music (this is complicated even more by Egypt’s historic ambivalence toward “Arab” identity). The Egyptians and Israelis would look at home in each other’s countries, and rather like each other.
If this sounds morally simplistic, you’re kind of right. But even if you don’t know the context, it’s a pretty enjoyable little film. And the message is definitely rooted in experience, rather than the oversimplified American point of view– a view that curiously identifies Israel with the West, and which the film pointedly and proudly refutes.
Sign This Was Made in 2007
I’ve never been to Egypt, either before or after the Revolution, but the visiting Egyptians definitely seem to come from a slightly more secular country than we’re familiar with today. Tawfiq orders his men to be on their best behavior, but this doesn’t stop young Haled from carousing and drinking without comment from his superior.
Additional Notes
If 2007 is the greatest year in film, it is entirely because of the American film industry. This project has taken us on detours to Britain, France, Ireland, Romania, and Israel, and will very soon take us to Korea and Spain. But legendary filmmaking centers Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, and Japan are totally unrepresented, their only US releases of the year having been holdovers from 2006.
Next Time: Across the Universe