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VANCOUVER
ART SCENE
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The
Band's Visit Bahar Çinarli Released in October 2007, this witty, charming, and bittersweet comedy is now playing at Vancouver's Cinemark Tinseltown Cinemas. Shot in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, the 85 minute feature is the debut work of Israeli film maker Eran Kolirin, and is the combined production of the August Productions, Sophie Du-lac Productions, and Bleiberg Entertainment production companies. The Band's Visit is an inspiring story about cross-cultural reconciliation set in a desolate and forgotten small Israeli town, in the heart of the desert. The film has already won 24 awards from around the world.
Khalid, on the other hand, tags along with a young Israeli man named Papi (Shlomi Avraham), who lets him join in as the fifth wheel on a double date at a local roller-skating disco. When Papi proves to be totally inept at courting his blind date, the suave Khalid helps him with prodding and directions. One of the films funniest and most unforgettable scenes occurs when Khalid demonstrates where Papi should place his hand on his date, and how he should stroke her. Meanwhile the other band members, headed by Simon (Khalifa Natour), the band's second in command, wind up staying with Itzik's (Rubi Moskovich) family, in the middle of their marital disputes. After some tense hours, the officers and the family members are brought together by music. The audience laughs when they all start singing Gershwin's 'Summer Time.' The ending of this visit is also meaningful. After Itzik's wife ritualistically stormes out of the house, and Itzik and Simon are left alone at the bedside of Itzik's sleeping baby girl, Itzik says, "May be your unfinished concerto should end this very same way, like my love story with my wife. A child sleeps in a room, no big bangs, no big ups or downs, no big happinesses, or big depressions. It just ends." Inspired by the scene and the advice, Simon starts to hear the music in his mind that will be the ending of his never finished concerto.
Director and writer Eran Kolirin was born in Tel-Aviv. He has written several TV series', an award-winning screenplay, and also written and directed a short film. The Band's Visit is his feature directorial debut, where he proves himself to be an excellent feature director. The film carries some nostalgia for the director's childhood, when Egyptian movies and the Israel Broadcasting Authority's orchestra performances were shown side by side on Israeli national television. Ronit Elkabetz (Dina), one of Israel's leading actresses gives a stellar performance. She is the Juliette Binoche of the Middle East in this film, with her wry, playful self-confidence, combined with her immense sensuality. Saleh Bakri (Khalid), whose looks and name remind me of Turkey's handsome actor Salih Guney, from the 1970's, is one of Israel's emerging Palestinian actors. This is his first big role in a feature film, and he has passes with flying colours in the role of the suave Khalid. Sasson Gabai (Tawfiq Zacharya) is also one of Israel's leading, and most prolific actors, who here proves again to be excellent in his stoic and melancholic role. I highly recommend The Band's Visit to anyone who loves bittersweet comedies, and cross-cultural humane themes. I feel that Turkish-Canadians will particularly love it, as the characters, stories, and scenes are so close to home.
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An
Egyptian ceremonial police band from Alexandria travels to Israel
to play traditional Arab music at the opening of an Arab cultural
centre in the town of Pet Hatikva. When the band arrives at the
airport in Tel Aviv, dressed in full military regalia, and observing
proper military police protocols, they find that neither their Israeli
hosts nor anyone from the Egyptian Embassy is there to greet them.
Aware of the sensitive political nature of an Arab military police
band in Israel, and concerned about criticisms and proposed budget
cuts to his orchestra, the stoic band conductor, lieutenant colonel
Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabai) decides to take the initiative,
and find his own way to Pet Hatikva. He assigns his subordinate
Khaled (Saleh Bakri), a handsome young officer to get bus
directions from a pretty woman in the information kiosk at the airport.
Distracted by the girl's beauty, and limited by language, Khaled
returns with incorrect instructions, and the men find themselves
in the desolate, forgotten desert town of Bet Hatikva.
Clearly
lost, but not willing to admit defeat, Tawfiq brings his men to
a nearby café to ask for information. Dina (Ronit Elkabetz),
the self-assured and witty café proprietress, whose casual sensuality
challenges the men's ideas about womanhood, agrees to help them
with lunch. She acts sensitive to the fact that the visitors do
not have much money left, and they that they have immense pride.
She then informs them that the bus only comes to town once per day,
and having missed it, they'll have to spend the night in Bet Hatikva,
which does not have any hotels. Bored with her life, and feeling
sorry for the visitors, Dina invites some of them to stay with her
while offering her friend's homes for the remainder. Conflicted
by pride and helplessness, Tawfiq reluctantly accepts the offer,
and Dina takes Tawfiq and Khalid to her modest apartment. After
some initial social awkwardness, they are brought closer together
when they share intimate details about their lives. Dina begins
to take an interest in the conductor, the older Tawfiq, and persuades
him to take her out for the evening. The proud yet shy Arab man
in his powder blue military uniform, and the beautiful, free-spirited,
and jaded Israeli woman make an odd couple at the local restaurant,
but her persistent compassion eventually breaks through his gentle
manly demeanor, and the duo form a bridge of understanding. 
