The Band’s Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret)

The Band’s Visit is set in present-day Israel, and concerns itself with “ordinary” people, as opposed to the bomb-wielding freedom fighters, terrorists, politicians, and other players in the Arab-Israeli conflict that have dominated our news reports from that part of the world in recent years. The film reminds and informs those of us casual observers of goings on in Israel that the country is, lest we forget, mostly populated by real people whose day-to-day concerns have similarly mundane parallels with those of populations lucky enough not to live in the kind of highly volatile environment of the Middle East. Those of us who, perhaps understandably, consider this part of the world as being “off limits” and too dangerous to visit because of the violent events that are reported in the media, are gently reminded that our worlds are not as distinct as we might think. For me, this was suggested by the portrayal of items whose origins were obviously from outside Israel, such as a pendant koala mirror decoration in an Israeli woman’s car, or a t-shirt emblazoned with the logo of a nightclub based in Liverpool, England (Cream).

The film’s events take place over the course of a day, and most of the action takes place in a large housing appartment complex situated in an almost desert landscape in Israel. The mood is essentially good-humoured and it is not unreasonable to imagine that the filmmakers focus on the common humanity of the Arabs and Israelis in an attempt to reduce the so-called Arab-Israeli divide. An example of this comes when one of the main characters, an Israeli woman called Dina, reminisces to the effect that “when [she] was a kid…we were all in love with Omar Sharif”, who, she says, starred in the Egyptian films that were shown every week in Israel. Dina is also a fan of Egyptian music. Egypt was the first Arab state to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, but those relations were always indeterminate, to say the least. For example, after the landmark peace treaty between the countries, following 30 years of hostile relations, the then Egyptian president, Anwar sadat, was assassinated by Islamic militants who disagreed with Egypt’s position. For Dina however, and for the Band of the title, who are visiting Israel to play traditional Egyptian music, the music and art provides a footing for decent human relations. It is understandable that music features as prominently as it does because, to present it optimistically, if not naïvely, its appreciation among people from different cultures symbolises a human commonality that transcends political divisions.

Dina and the Egyptians communicate through convincingly broken English, which is a nice touch. The interaction of the Israeli hosts and their unexpected Egyptian guests is well played and the scenes in the Israeli roller disco are devoid of political analogy and are genuinely warm and humorous, and would be not be out of place in any film about young courting couples. In general though, the sense that we are watching political and cultural analogies is never far from our mind. Unfortunately, this, aligned with the fact that not all characters are as convincing or engaging as the young people in the roller disco, and that the tempo sometimes flags, creates an occasionally oppressive viewing experience.

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