Israeli Films 1

I spend a lot of time in Paris, and as there are an immense number of cinemas within easy walking distance of where I live, in the Fifth Arrondisement, I get to see all the Israeli films. Unlike in the UK, Israeli movies are shown in main-stream cinemas, not art houses. Unfortunately, most such films are produced by leftists such as Eytan Fox or Amos Gitai, which means they are usually anti-Israeli or pro-homosexual or – most frequently – both.
Fox's “Walk on Water” is a good flick – thriller but more subtle than the usual Bond-type, and only a minimal amount of the obligatory homosexuality. His latest “The Bubble” takes the gay theme to the shockingly explicit limit, but is a good description of the Mid-East conflict (yes, you guessed it, the lovers are a Palestinian chap and an Israeli soldier). If even kissing on screen offends you – the best fairly recent film is “Ushpizim” - a term which refers to the mystic guests during Succoth. Produced by an all-ultra-Orthodox cast, it can be viewed on several layers – most superficially as a film about a childless couple living in Mea Shearim visited by the husband's ex-jail mates. At a deeper level it explores the philosophy of the 18th century Hassidic Rabbi Nachman of Breslau. (You must have seen the Israeli stickers everywhere – Na Nach Nachman – apparently he stuttered.) Probably the best Israeli film I have seen in recent times – and it's in easy Hebrew (I don't know if there is a subtitled version.)

“The Band's Visit” (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret, 2007) tells the story of an Egyptian Police Band who find themselves by error in a small town in Israel. The characters are well drawn – and that is the strength of the film. Of course, since it is an Israeli film, the Egyptians are portrayed as handsome, sensitive, intelligent, while the Israelis are shallow, immoral and terrifically ugly. But as a clash – or rather, a misunderstanding – of cultures it is a film worth seeing. So get the DVD.