Today I watched all but the beginning of "The Band's Visit," which got ruled out of the Oscar best foreign film contest because so much of it was in English (a language many people knew). The film chronicles the afternoon, evening, and morning that an Egyptian army band spends in an out-of-the-way Israeli town, when their bus breaks down. The film is awfully slow and quiet, focusing on the relationships between three Egyptians and their hosts, including their middle-aged commander and his sultry bored restauranteur hostess - who originally comes up with the idea of them staying in Israel - a younger Egyptian band member who goes out to a rollar disco with several Israelis he met, and another group of Egyptians who stay with a fractious families. The joy is really in watching the evenings of this various groups play out, with lots of pauses, awkwardness, and intercultural exchange.
No comments:
Post a Comment