THE BAND'S VISIT

A small Egyptian police band, lead by a stern but likeable conductor with a dark secret, arrives in Israel to play a concert for an Arab Culture center and gets lost in the shuffle, landing in a quiet desert town by accident. Craziness ensues, right? No, in fact, what happens in Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit (2007) is a heartwarming and lightly comedic look at the interplay of culturally different people with common human problems. This is a wonderful little film. Sasson Gabai (an Iraqi-born actor) is absolutely wonderful as Tawfiq Zacharya (often called The General), leader of the group and determined to preserve the finances, dignity, and tradition of his band. The darkly beautiful Ronit Elkabetz is Dina, a lonely yet vibrant restaurant worker in the almost deserted town who takes the lost musicians under her wing. She is kind of the whore with the heart of gold. Saleh Bakri is the youngest and newest member of the band, and the cad. There are several other smaller parts, all well played, each contributing small bits to the overall picture. The pacing is wonderful and the director does not try to force comedy by creating farcical mischief. The interplay is often melancholy, as the characters often glimpse the personal side of their counterparts, and the commentary is done with a light hand, as when one band member sitting in a cafe covers a photograph celebrating some Israel defeat of their Egyptian foes. To me the film spoke to the commonality of people, that our differences do not mean connections cannot be forged, kindnesses offered and accepted.

ARAB SPRING FOR WOMEN (HOPEFULLY)

"Name me an Arab country, and I'll recite a litany of abuses fueled by a toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend. When more than 90 percent of ever-married women in Egypt -- including my mother and all but one of her six sisters -- have had their genitals cut in the name of modesty, then surely we must all blaspheme. When Egyptian women are subjected to humiliating "virginity tests" merely for speaking out, it's no time for silence. When an article in the Egyptian criminal code says that if a woman has been beaten by her husband "with good intentions" no punitive damages can be obtained, then to hell with political correctness. And what, pray tell, are "good intentions"? They are legally deemed to include any beating that is "not severe" or "directed at the face." What all this means is that when it comes to the status of women in the Middle East, it's not better than you think. It's much, much worse. Even after these "revolutions," all is more or less considered well with the world as long as women are covered up, anchored to the home, denied the simple mobility of getting into their own cars, forced to get permission from men to travel, and unable to marry without a male guardian's blessing -- or divorce either."---Mona Eltahawy, "Why Do They Hate Us," in Foreign Policy (May 2012).

An important read, and a call for empowerment of women in Islamic countries (and, I hope, all countries), and a clear indictment of the mysogynistic attitude of Islamic males (and perhaps Americans can also see the emerging strain of this kind of thinking amongst its own radical right elements).

FOREIGN FILMS

Took another trip into foreign films last night. Obvioulsy, much is lost on the American viewer in most cases, but I think I was able to figure things out fairly well. I think.

Dubia: Kiss Me Not on My Eyes is an Egyptian movie about a young woman seeking out the meaning of love in literature, dance, and the real life, within the constraints of Muslim society. The main character, played by the very lovely Hanan Turk, is an intelligent and educated woman, who wants to learn the skill of traditional dance (her mother was a well-known belly dancer) and is selected to learn from a local master. Turk can really dance and has gorgeous dark eyes and beautiful full hair. The dancing is often quite enticing, but the underlying storylines are more important about the constraints put on women through religion and culture (including the terrible practice of female circumcision). She also continues her studies into classical love poetry as a disciple of a controversial professor amongst the more conservative scholars, who seeks to protect the publication of Thousand and One Nights. I thought that it was pretty good, and opens some windows into Egyptian culture.

I also caught Them (I do not know if it was Romanian or French, though the action occurs in Romania), in which a Freench teacher and her writer boyfriend fend off an attack by a gang of hooded youngsters. At times chilling and scary, it is not the greatest horror film, but it is still interesting. Olivia Bonamy is good in the role of Clem.