With the U.S. debating the terms on which foreign visitors
can enter the country and Washington D.C. making an apparent shift in its
policy toward Israel and Palestine, I sat down to watch a ten-year-old Israeli film
called The Band’s Visit. It, like so
many of our news stories of late, focuses on what happens to those who cross international
borders. The Band’s Visit tells the fictive
story of a small Egyptian band, officially the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra.
The eight men, in their elaborate formal uniforms, fly to Tel Aviv for a
cultural exchange, but get far more than they bargained for. I’d long heard of
this film, but didn’t anticipate that it
is less a political statement or a satire of bungling bureaucracy than a gentle
reminder that people are people, no matter their point of origin.
The film begins with a prime example of cross-cultural
misunderstanding. After its arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, the proud little
band discovers there’s no liaison present to smooth its way to its performance
venue. One band member, the group’s foremost Romeo, is delegated to inquire at
an airport information desk. Speaking in mangled English, he asks the Israeli
receptionist about transportation options. The men end up on a public bus that
drops them at a town in the middle of nowhere. Yes, this is Beit Hatikva, but
no one is expecting the band’s arrival. Eventually, the problem becomes clear.
Arabic languages lack a “P” sound, and regularly substitute a “B.” The bandsman
apparently inquiring about Beit Hatikva (“House of Hope”) actually needed
directions to Petah Tikva (“Opening of Hope”), a well-established industrial
city just outside of Tel Aviv.
Anyway, it’s almost nightfall, and the men are going to need
food and a place to sleep. The denizens of Beit Hatikva are a hard-scrabble
bunch, most of them marked by dreams that have gone awry. But, led by the
big-hearted Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) who owns the seedy local café, they open
their own homes to the band members. The film cuts between several of these
home-stays, which variously include an amusing trip to a roller-skating rink,
an awkward dinner with a deeply stressed young married couple, and a revealing
conversation between the proud but sad leader of the troupe and the earthy Dina,
who feels she has squandered her own chances for happiness. Nothing
earth-shattering happens, but before the night is out everyone knows everyone a
bit better. And just a small amount of magic has made some drab lives slightly more endurable.
Then comes morning, and the eight musicians set off for
their proper destination, where their mutual love of music is at last on full
display.
The Band’s Visit,
a popular film both in Israel and abroad, was selected to represent Israel in
the competition for the 2008 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. One problem,
though: in the interest of realism, the Egyptian characters speak Arabic
together, while the Israelis speak Hebrew. When members of the two groups need
to communicate across national lines, English is their lingua franca. Since
more than 50% of the film’s dialogue is in English, the Academy disqualified it
from the Foreign Language Film category. A shame, truly.
Less shame than tragedy is the death in 2016 of the
beautiful and soulful actress Ronit Elkabetz, who succumbed to cancer at age
51. The star of many Israeli films, she last played the very different role of
an Orthodox Jewish wife denied a divorce by her husband in 2014’s Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem. She also co-wrote and co-directed. Her passing
is a huge loss.
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