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Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: outnow.ch The Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra lost in Israel. [Click to enlarge]

A lot of foreign films come from France, Spain or China but not many have been produced in Israel. "The Band's Visit," the directorial debut of Erin Kolirin, is a surprising exception. Israel usually is a setting where conflict and violence tend to take place in film, but in "The Band's Visit" it's a backdrop to two different cultures interacting with one another.

The movie starts out with a shot of the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra from Egypt getting dropped off at the Israel airport. Dressed in their sky blue police uniforms, they arrived to perform for the inauguration of the Arab Cultural Center in Pet Hatikvah.

Instead, they get dropped off at Bet Hatikvah, a town where isolation overtakes this erringly silent town. So with no bus coming through until tomorrow morning and the station miles away, a night in the isolated Bet Hatikvah is their only option.

This is where the movie splits into three different stories. First, there's the uptight leader of the band, Colonel Tawfiq Zacharaya (Sasson Gabai), who is going to be taken out to the town by Dina (Ronit Eklabetz), the lone restaurant owner that helps out the band.

Then there is the evening spent between some band members and a husband with marital issues rapidly unfolding. Last is Haled (Saleh Bakri), the most outspoken and rebellious of the band members, going into town and showing the ropes to a socially awkward boy about how to win a girl over.

Kolirin, who also wrote the screenplay, knows how to show the nuances of language between different people. Some are obvious, as seen in the verbal discussions. The band and the residents speak different languages yet somehow manage to communicate with one another. The only way they communicate with each other is through English.

Kolirin does a great job at showing how hard it is to formulate words that aren't in their primary language. The hesitation of their deliveries, the way words are spoken, these are the little things that make this film authentic and humorous.

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