The Band's Visit
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Movie Reviews of The Band's Visit
Movie Review: FUNNY, TOUCHING VISIT OF EGYPTIANS TO ISRAEL
Summary: 5 Stars
one of the hit israeli films of recent years, this quirky well made film deserves all of the many prizes it has won internationally. i haven't met anyone who has seen this film that did not really like it. highly recommended.Movie Review: Rave,,MUST SEE,
Summary: 5 Stars
Deeply touching on many levels,,,,It's a beautiful little movie with a BIG heart. The performances are the best you will ever see. The Music is a JOY. You can watch this GEM of a MOVIE MANY TIMES,,,,it is that good ...Movie Review: The Band's Visit
Summary: 5 Stars
It was a good purchase. It was cheap, and it came a couple of days before I was expecting it to, so that was nice.Movie Review: 'My Funny Valentine': A Little Film with a Tender Message
Summary: 4 Stars
'It's the wrong time and the wrong place...' - there are so many excerpts of songs quoted in this movie and ones that stimulate memories of old songs that are very much in keeping with the title and the story, THE BAND'S VISIT (BIKUR HA-TIZMORET). A timely piece, this little film is about humanity and the possibility of communication by various means that overcome differences between cultures far better than treaties, summit meetings, and physical and verbal demonstrations. It is a thoughtful, engaging, and completely delightful success.
The Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra with 'General' Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) rigidly in charge provides music for occasions, and the particular occasion for this venture is a ceremony in Israel. Flying in from Egypt well dressed in light blue uniforms to perform for the new Arab Culture Center, the small band is not met as expected at the airport. Tewfiq attempts to resolve the lack of proper greeting and transportation by reserving space on a bus - a trip that mistakenly (through problems originating in language confusion) results in the band being dropped off in a small village Bet Hatikva. Frustrated with circumstances, the band is met with genial hospitality by café owner Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) who not only feeds them but puts the small band up for the evening. Dina has eyes for Tewfig and plans an evening out on the town with him - an evening that has its own surprises as each lonely person shares life circumstances. The other members of the band are placed in lodging with Dina's workers and at a dinner party discover similarities in their lives. Khaled (Saleh Bakri), a somewhat antagonistic ladies' man, spends an evening with a terrified young man Papi (Shlomi Avraham) on his first real date, and in the course of the evening introduces the fine art of courtship to Papi in a hilarious but touching scene.
The use of English as the common language between these Arab and Hebrew speaking people adds elements of humor as well as moments of sweetness as both the band members and the Israelis grow to know and care about each other. The conversations among each separate group are delivered in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles and this degree of modified privacy becomes almost more humorous because of the bumpy language barriers shared with the audience. Everyone grows through this short visit and by the time the band departs for their correct destination by the next morning's bus, bonds have been made that preserve the dignity of nationality while overriding the limitations of differences peculiar to each country. This is a quiet, gentle, at times very humorous little movie that offers insights of how to attain global community for us all. Writer/director Eran Kolirin deserves special recognition for assembling and molding this excellent cast for this remarkable, genuinely compassionate statement about important issues. Grady Harp, August 08
Movie Review: Lost in the desert
Summary: 4 Stars
The Band's Visit (2007) aka Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (2007), the directorial debut of Erin Kolirin, is the winner of three 2007 Cannes Festival's awards and 8 Awards of Israeli Academy of Film. Even though its subject, the relations between Jews and Arabs, is complex and controversial, the movie is gentle, sweet, hopeful, optimistic, a little sad, and well worth of seeing. The movie tells about the Egyptian policemen-musicians, the members of the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra and how they arrived to Israel one day to play at the opening of the Arab Cultural Center in Pet Hatikvah. Somehow, no one met them at the airport, and they took the bus that got them to the small town or rather village of Bet Hatikvah, in the middle of nowhere, or to be precise, somewhere in Negev desert. The musicians with their instruments wearing sky-blue uniforms stuck in Bet Hatikvah for the night because the right bus only comes once a day. How Egyptians and Jews communicate during that night, how they impact one another, what they learn about complete strangers and about themselves - makes the simple but very real and very hopeful story. The film is minimalistic, it does not use special effects or many words but it managed to tell us something important about these people by looking closely at their faces, observing their body language, sympathizing with them. You know, it is so good to see or a chance a movie with no villains, chases, guns, predictable situations, obligatory affairs, etc. It is really nice to be able to get drawn inside the movie, to feel like you've met good friends, not perfect or heroic, sometimes shy and awkward, but real and interesting to us. Two main characters as played by very good Israeli actors who are terrific in their riles and I'd love to see them getting international acclaim. Ronit Elkabeth is stunning - I could not take off my eyes off her face. Intense, passionate, sexy, three times winner of Israel Academy awards for acting, actress/director/writer, she is a national treasure. Sasson Gabai, who is apparently famous in Israel but not outside the country, was also outstanding as the repressed and shy leader of the band, Lieutenant-colonel Tawfiq Zacharya. With the running time only 87 minutes, The Band's Visit is one of the best and most memorable films from last year.
4.5/5