Don't judge a film by its title

BAILA LAZARUS EDITOR AND CYNTHIA RAMSAY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

The 23rd Vancouver International Film Festival began this week and runs until Oct. 8. Some of this year's films are marked by strong, anti-Israel biases but there are others that give excellent portrayals of life in the midst of an intifada. And while some might seem to merit dismissal on first glance due to their title or one-line description, they actually deserve praise for their content and their quality.

An American lemon

Take a couple of well-meaning but inexperienced car salesmen in Israel, add a mammoth, blue 1985 Lincoln Town Car Limousine, throw in a car magazine that says the vehicle is worth $60,000 US in Germany and off you go on the Metallic Blues road trip.

When car salesman Shmuel (Avi Kushner) sees the limo drive onto his lot at the onset of the film, he tells his partner, Siso (Moshe Ivgy), "It's not a car, it's America. It's a hotel." Drooling over and caressing the wood grain interior, the crystal glasses, bar, VCR, television and refrigerator, Shmuel arranges to buy the car for $5,000 US, while dreams of sugar plum car dealers and high profits in Germany dance in his head.

Dragging an unwilling Siso along with him, the two set off into the unknown, like Hansel and Gretel into the woods. Initially, Siso is dumbfounded that Shmuel would even want to do business in Germany since Shmuel had lost his family in the Holocaust. (Though Shmuel doesn't look old enough, supposedly he survived the Holocaust himself.) But Shmuel takes an all-business attitude and, dismissing Siso's concerns, he even expresses jealousy at what he sees as the German lifestyle, "life without worries."

"It's so quiet, nobody honks," he laments, staring at the street from his hotel window.

It doesn't take long for reality to take hold, however. The two are literally just off the boat with the car when they are stopped for inspection. Seems the bargain-basement clothing style they adopted in Israel made them look suspicious in such an expensive vehicle. After being released and properly suiting up, the real bad luck begins. The dealer they thought would buy the car won't give them what they are asking, Shmuel loses his wallet, the car is stolen and they have no money to get home. On top of that, Shmuel's nonchalance at being in Germany slowly begins to fade as memories of the Holocaust seep into his consciousness. A run-in with a German police officer turns into disaster when the officer manhandles Shmuel a little bit and Siso, having enough of Shmuel's denial, leaves for Israel on his own.

This wonderful film combines the humor of hapless adventures with the tenderness of good friendship. There are hard lessons to be learned about business and life and forgiveness, and that, ultimately, even the most tenacious and resolute person, may have to get out of the car and walk.

Metallic Blues is a combined Canada/Israel/Germany production. It was a critical favorite at the 2004 Jerusalem International Film Festival, garnering writer/director Danny Verete an award for best Israeli screenplay and Moshe Ivgy for best actor. It runs Tuesday, Sept. 28, 10 p.m., and Monday, Oct 4, 3 p.m., at the Granville 7, cinema 1.

A doomed future

The main impediment to a bright future for the Palestinians may be the Palestinians themselves, their outlook – or lack of one. This is one of the messages in Atash (Thirst).

In Thirst, a dictatorial father forces his family – ostracized from their home village because of a daughter's sexual indiscretion or her rape, the exact circumstances are not clear – to live in an abandoned town. Here, the parents, son and two daughters barely get by, living off the arid land with a meagre garden and a few goats. They use water stolen from their village's pipeline and they make a little money selling charcoal made with trees stolen from an Israeli park.

The mother attempts to instil some sanity into the situation, imploring the father to use their savings to move to a new place, where they could afford an apartment (he uses it to build his own pipeline instead), begging the father to let their son attend school (which he does not), etc. The son, for his part, sneaks off to school when he can and tries to protect his sisters from his father's wrath. Eventually, the son takes matters into his own hands in a way that, tragically, does not solve the family's troubles but rather condemns them to a bleak, if not completely hopeless, existence.

The film debut of Tawfiq Abu Wael includes some critique of Israel's presence in the territories, but really targets the unyielding, domineering, misogynistic patriarch – and the community that shunned the family – as authors of their own sad fate. There is even a scene in which the father's pipeline has been broken and the Israeli army or the Jewish National Fund are assumed by the father and son to be the culprit. However, it turns out to have been fractured by the eldest daughter in an attempt to deprive the family of water so that the father will let them leave their isolated "home."

The family and cultural dynamics in Thirst make it an intriguing movie. Unfortunately, in trying to depict the slow, dull pace of a solitary family's life in the desert, Abu Wael has made the film very slow and a bit dull itself.

Thirst screens on Monday, Sept. 27, 6:20 p.m., and Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2 p.m., at the Granville 7, cinema 4.

Campfire stories

What does it take to join a new settlement in the West Bank? A little more than one single mother is willing to pay in Campfire.

This bittersweet story follows Rachel (Michaela Eshet), a lonely widower of one year who, desperate to become a member of a solid community, applies to join a new settlement. Her two teenage daughters have other plans, as does her would-be lover, played by well-known Israeli actor Moshe Ivgy.

The criteria to get into the new settlement include a stable family that will cause no trouble and, preferably, a married couple. So Rachel sets off to rein in her daughters while allowing herself to be set up on some blind dates by the couple who is starting the settlement.

What follow are the predictable parent-teen clashes, along with some outlandish first dates, including one where Rachel gets picked up by her suitor driving a tour bus and another where her date tries to impress her by singing Kol Nidre in public. In the teen angst area, the older daughter (presumably around 17) gets involved with a young soldier and the 15-year-old becomes the victim of sexual assault after she leaves her Zionist youth group's bonfire on Lag b'Omer to associate with some "outcast" boys. She gets some solace from her older sister who tells her, "Just hold your nose till high school's over, then do national service."

This film is not so much a "feel good" movie as a "feel-optimistic" one. The acting is superb and its writing is realistic and humorous. It is particularly relevant to any parents dealing with teen headaches (or any teens dealing with parent headaches) because they'll both come out of the movie with lots to discuss and probably a better understanding of the other point of view.

Ultimately, the film tells us that not all struggles are without their rewards, no matter how hopeless a situation seems; but also that not all struggles are resolved. Some just float into a hazy reality of compromise. And sometimes, you just have to hold your nose until they pass.

Written and directed by Joseph Cedar (Time of Favor), Campfire plays Sunday, Sept. 26, 7 p.m., at the Ridge Theatre; and Tuesday, Sept. 28, 4 p.m., at the Granville 7.

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