The Band’s Visit – Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (2007)

Directed by: Eran Kolirin | 90 minutes | drama, comedy | Actors: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Imad Jabarin, Tarak Kopty, Hisham Khoury, Francois Khell, Eyad Sheety, Shlomi Avraham, Rubi Moskovitz, Hilla Sarjon Fischer, Uri Gavriel, Avuha Keren

During the first minutes of the film, in which the ‘Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra’ arrives at an Israeli airport, the tone is immediately set. The group of men from the Egyptian brass band, in spotless light blue uniforms, stand out strangely against their surroundings as they wait in vain for escort and walk around the airport lost. The mutual relationships are also made clear in this initial phase; leader Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai) wants to be taken seriously by ‘his’ men at all costs, but misses his target, causing the group to make fun of him behind his back. The handsome, young Khaled (Saleh Bakri) is the only one who doesn’t care about Tawfiq and especially has an eye for the beautiful Israeli girls.

When the group ends up in the wrong place due to a misunderstanding – which becomes apparent as soon as they get off the bus – they are taken care of by the kind and free-spirited Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), who runs the only restaurant in the sad Bet Hanikva. Dina is extravagant and sensual, just the right woman for the band’s reception. She takes care of the reception of the men and makes her own house available for Tawfiq and Khaled. In the evening everyone tries their best to make something out of the uncomfortable situation: a number of men find themselves in the middle of a tense family situation; Khaled goes with some youngsters and eventually has to give the Israelis a good example of how to seduce a girl. Dina takes Tawfiq in tow and tries to thaw him, but only slowly. Nice is the nostalgia they actually share; their shared past of Arabic music and cinema, making it clear that these people have more in common than they’d like to admit at first. Director Kolirin himself talks about Friday afternoons in his youth when the whole family – the whole country actually – sat inside to immerse themselves in the grand Egyptian cinema of Omar Sharif and Phaten Hamama. Classical Arabic music was also widespread and loved by Israelis. But over the years, MTV has taken the place of concert recordings and Hollywood has long banned Arab cinema from the air. Is that perhaps why it is so difficult for many Israelis to recognize the similarities with their southern neighbors? The ideal image of ‘Western’ society leaves no room for these nuances, much to the director’s regret. He therefore shows unadorned differences and similarities, clashes but also rapprochement between the men of the ‘Royal Orchestra of Alexandria’ and the bored Israelis from the desolate desert town.

There is hardly any conventional plotting, but a personal approach and honest character study all the more. The music is also beautiful; with clarinet, violin and many other Arabic instruments, the men manage to touch the emotional level.