mercredi 6 février 2008

In the mood for quiet

There are times when a quiet movie is just what the doctor ordered. La Visite de la Fanfare, directed by Eran Kolirin, is one such movie which despite its seeming lack of drama, packs a quiet punch. The story is simple. The Alexandria Ceremonial orchestra is invited to play at the Arab Cultural center in Israel but due to a mix up in their travel plans, they end up in the middle of the small desert Israeli town where, as one resident puts it, “there’s no culture, Arab or other”, in town. Undeterred by the fact that they are stuck in town for the night and determined to make the best of their situation, Tewfiq, the stern and proper conductor of the orchestra, decides to ask Dina, the gruff but kindly waitress of the small café for food. She in turn decides to help them and she arranges for the band’s lodging for the night.
There may be a world of difference between them, among which are political and religious differences but the film is not about these differences. Here, we see two normally antagonistic cultures learning from each other and even more importantly, to see the other without these differences. Thus, we have Tewfiq taken out to dinner by Dina who plies him questions and who tells him that her life is an Arab story. There is also the headstrong Haled who teaches a painfully shy young man how to act around a girl with compassion. And we even have a family whose quiet disintegration serves as inspiration for a musician to finish his concerto. These may all be little events and on the surface have no importance but as the film progresses we see how these events affect the characters. Tewfiq unburdens himself a little of his loss and guilt and learns that he can unbend without being weak while Haled learns a new respect for the conductor.
The film’s mood and theme of loneliness is echoed by the desolate landscape where the little town is found. There is not much to be seen on the horizon, little beauty to be found. But the residents persist and strive to make their own paths of happiness. Dina takes Tewfiq to a park, but tells him that he must use his imagination to see it. In the same vein, the remaining young folk take on a skating rink and turn it into their nightly hang out place. The more lonely of them wait patiently by the side of a roadside phone for a loved one to call. Their town is a lonely place and it is only through simple human interaction that desolation can be beaten back. Their visitors however different they may be, provide a much needed spark that affirms the human need for the other.

Aucun commentaire: