The Band's Visit
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Movie Reviews of The Band's Visit
Movie Review: Good, Yearning to be Great
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Band's Visit" is an unusual film. Gentle, warm, insightful but never reaching to great heights. This is a pity. I believe it had much to offer. It somehow failed to convince in the end.
Briefly, the film covers the visit to Israel by the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra. They are due to play at the Arab Cultural Centre in an Israeli town but manage to catch the wrong bus. They end up in a boring little town in the desert. They are lost and out place. It is how the band interacts with the locals that is the basis of the film.
I suspect that many might think that an Egyptian orchestra in Israel would be the setting for hostility. Rather, the two sets of people seem to get on well. They are both tolerant and patient. The film succeeds in bringing this relationship to life. Unfortunately, it does little else. The film is a study of reactions between two peoples.
The acting by the cast of relative unknowns is excellent. Hollywood should take a hint. Big names don't necessarily make great films. Yet, for all its charm (and it has this in bucket loads), the film fails to compel. It needs something more than just a study of characters. It seems to meander at times. It lacks a plot. Put simply, there is something missing. This is a shame. The film has much to offer. It could have been great but fails to make the final step.
Movie Review: A Romantic Musical without The Music
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Band's Visit" is a charming, small film about misplaced people in foreign cultures that manages to have no overbearing message other than we're often more common than we want to think we are. After a language issues accidentally diverts the eight member Egyptian Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra to the middle of nowhere, they have to depends, warily, on the kindness of Israeli strangers. The Israelis, led by free-spirited Dina (Ronit Elkabetz) separate the band between three families, the staid leader of the orchestra, General Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) winds up with her.
Little scenarios come up that are more gentle than caustic in their conflict, and are often humorous, sometime melancholy. The scene where ladies man Khaled (Saleh Bakri) coaches the shy Papi at the roller-rink in the fine art of the Pick Up is hilarious. The scene where the frustrated composer Simon and his host Itzik dwell over lost idealism is sadly touching. But none of these scenes is forced or exploitative, while they've had the power to stay in my memory for quite some time. Watching Tewfiq attempt to explain music with his conductor's gestures alone made me love this film, and I recommend it highly for those who don't mind spending time with a movie that opens itself up gradually without banging you over the head.
Movie Review: and the band played on
Summary: 4 Stars
A delightful and reflective film, but not something for folks looking for lots of action. However, for those of you who intensely dislike subtitles, almost all the dialog is in English as it's the only language the Egyptians and Israelis share. A small Egyptian Police orchestra is sent to Israel on a cultural exchange program, but gets badly lost due to the differences between Arabic and Hebrew. The band director sends the youngest member of the group to the bus ticket booth, but he's too busy flirting with the pretty vendor to pay much attention to what she's actually saying. In Arabic the letter P doesn't exist, so Arabs usually say B instead as in Bebsi Cola. So instead of going to Petah Tikva, just outside of Tel Aviv, they wind up going to a small isolated desert town, Bet Hatikva where they quickly become stranded. Although both sides are immediately suspicious of each other, the townsfolk take them in and give them food and shelter for the night, and over time the two groups find they have more in common individually and culturally than either imagines. Every thing is low key, and while there's quite a bit of humor throughout, it's not really at anyone's expense. However, the scene where the young Egyptian coaches a young Israeli on how to approach a woman is a scream. Well worth watching.Movie Review: from egypt to israel and beyond
Summary: 4 Stars
The case for this DVD advertises that this movie has earned over thirty-five international awards. In my mind it has earned every one of them. Pitched as a comedy, the film moves beyond mere laughs to that deeply human place in each one of us, no matter what your language or culture. Eight members of the "Alexandrian Police Ceremonial Orchestra" from Egypt, complete in their powder blue band uniforms, are on a visit to the Arab cultural center in Pet Hatikvah, Israel. A bad bus ride strands them in the isolated and desolate village of Bet Hatikva. In their broken English, members of the band and their Israeli hosts communicate across the boundaries of language, culture, gender roles, and, of course, millennia of mutual suspicions. But with the help of music and the vulnerabilities they experience because of their predicament, they open themselves up to each others' stories. One reviewer described this film as "lighthearted but not lightweight." In English, Hebrew, and Arabic, with English subtitles.Movie Review: a funny, sweet film that you probably haven't seen (but will enjoy)
Summary: 4 Stars
An Egyptian police band flies to Israel to play a concert but takes the wrong bus and ends up stranded in a tiny Israeli hamlet. They get to know a number of the locals, and the interactions run the gamut: painfully (hilariously) awkward, funny, sad.
The interactions between locals are as likely to be awkward (and funny) as those between locals and the visitors, just in more familiar ways. Maybe the film is about how emotions can cross cultures (even cultures known to have animosity), but I just found it funny and sweet and (sometimes) sad. But it is very well done, and I recommend it. (My wife and I both gave it an 8/10, which is strong praise.)
The film is in English, Hebrew, and (presumably) Egyptian Arabic. We picked it up at our local Blockbuster.
The film is PG-13. I remember one swear word and one split-second glimpse of a couple of arms and legs (which could be interpreted as sensuality).