Saleh Bakri, Shlomi Avraham and Rinat Matatov

Tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues - Arab-Israeli relations - The Band’s Visit does not resort to preaching. Writer/director Eran Kolirin stays off of the soapbox. Instead, he opts for a cross-cultural comedy fueled by classic conventions of the genre. Plot-wise, The Band’s Visit is not that much different from Doc Hollywood or Crocodile Dundee. Due to an error of enunciation, a police band mistakenly travels to a small town in the middle of nowhere. Imagine the mirthful, brainless riot Jack Black or Adam Sandler could start if their rock band from California got stranded in South Georgia. Undoubtedly, hilarity would ensue, but what about hope? Would the audience leave this imaginary film believing one of the world’s most volatile marriages of culture might not end in violent, bloody divorce? Not even if Black or Sandler’s band featured an African-American guitarist and the setting were the birth of rock and roll. In positing that an Egyptian police band stranded in desolate Bet Hatikva, Israel, could find such generous hospitality, this simple Israeli comedy says as profound a thing about humanity as does any Norman Jewison sermon on American race relations.

On the way to a concert in Petah Tikva, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, led by stern conductor Tewfiq (Israeli Film Academy Award winner Sasson Gabai), winds up in Bet Hatikva, where buses rarely run and no hotel exists. Nearly out of Israeli money, Tewfiq and his men must rely on the kindness of Dina (Israeli Film Academy Award winner Ronit Elkabetz), who runs a small restaurant, and her daily patrons, Itzik (Rubi Moscovich) and Papi (Shlomi Avraham). Having lived her life under the watchful eye of a small community, the unmarried Dina cares little for the small town mores, wooing the reticent Tewfiq while the orchestra’s resident ladies man, Khaled (Israeli Film Academy Award winner Saleh Bakri), plays Cyrano to Papi’s Christian at a local roller-disco. Meanwhile, Tewfiq’s second-in-command, Simon (Khalifa Natour), witnesses the quiet, unhappy dissolution of Itzik’s marriage. Kolirin drives around the big, dramatic obstacles presented by the arrival of a group of powder blue-uniformed Arabs in a small Israeli town. No confrontation ensues, though one bored young thug pokes fun at the men’s uniforms, not their ethnicity. No huge speeches about the similarities between Arabs and Israelis are delivered. They are unnecessary. Kolirin conveys his message clearly with humor and humanistic optimism. Hatred between the Egyptians and the Israelis does not only go unnoticed in The Band’s Visit; those self-created strictures do not actually exist. It is refreshing to see a film deal directly with this issue by not addressing it at all. Kolirin’s message would not resonate as effectively without a that populates the film with people, not characters. Through the powers of the lovely Elkabetz, one of Israel’s leading actresses, Dina glows with the playful self-confidence of a beautiful mature woman who knows what she wants and cares little about the approval of others. Burdened by more than a desire to perform perfectly, Tewfiq is stoic to a fault. One expects to bristle under his command, yet his tragic admission and Gabai’s proud, noble carriage elicit more sympathy than the callow Khaled, who may or may not have gained more than another conquest from this desert detour.

The Band’s Visit marches into town as further proof of the brokenness of the process used by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to select nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Israel’s original submission for the Best Foreign Film prize (the nation’s second entry, Beaufort, made the final five) was rejected by the Academy because over half the film’s dialogue is in English. I understand the award specifies a film be in a foreign language, but it’s not like The Band’s Visit comes from Britain, a land whose native cinema could be termed Hollywood East. Plus, The Band’s Visit is actually trilingual - English, Arabic, and Hebrew. Kolirin’s film was good enough for 25 international awards, including eight Awards of the Israeli Film Academy (Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Music and Best Costumes) and the Cannes Film Festival’s prize, Un Certain Regard, but it’s just not up to the Academy’s rigorous standards, a shameful oversight which hurts the film’s marketability here in the States. The effect of a giant- fonted “Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Film” emblazoned atop a poster or DVD box is all it takes to pique interest in an otherwise unknown film, and this generous film filled with laughter and drama on a daily scale deserves to be known and seen. The Band’s Visit makes no epic pronouncements on the state of mankind. It simply shows us at our best, giving to those in need despite prejudices imposed by culture and religion. If The Band’s Visit can remind us of anything, it is that the most well-received messages are often those delivered softly, through subtlety and humor.

Drew Wheeler