The Band’s Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret)

The Band’s Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) (Director: Eran Kolirin): This first fea­ture from the young Israeli dir­ector is a charming con­fec­tion that, as the dir­ector admits, has no basis in reality. In some unspe­cified recent past, the mem­bers of an Egyptian police band arrive at an air­port in Israel and, seeing nobody there to meet them, decide to pro­ceed on their own. Only they mis­take one town for another, and end up stranded in a lonely desert set­tle­ment. Dina, the earthy owner of the local café, comes to their rescue, finding them lodging for the night and taking a spe­cial shine to Tewfiq, the dis­tin­guished elder statesman who is the band’s leader. Most of the humour comes from the con­trast between the uni­formed and very polite band mem­bers and the bored and eccentric Israelis who aren’t quite sure how to react to their pres­ence. On one hand, these are Israel’s enemies and should be treated cau­tiously, but then again, not much hap­pens in their town and so this might be interesting.

The curi­osity of both groups over­comes any hes­it­ancy and soon three pair­ings have formed. Dina takes Tewfiq out for a meal and a drink, and Dina’s sen­su­ality briefly thaws out the older man. Young Khaled, the playboy of the band, goes out on the town with awk­ward virgin Papi, helping him over­come his shy­ness with a girl at a roller disco. And soulful com­poser Simon stays with troubled Itzik, whose mar­riage appears to be in ser­ious trouble. It’s mostly played for laughs, but there are sev­eral touching moments of con­nec­tion between the char­ac­ters. For me, the per­form­ance of Sasson Gabai as Tewfiq was mas­terful. Looking uncan­nily like Ben Kingsley, he brings dig­nity, sad­ness, and longing to the role. The other char­ac­ters are a little too broad most of the time, and the number of sight gags that involve the band lining up in their uni­forms becomes a bit repet­itive, but for a first fea­ture, Kolirin has done a won­derful job of making a small moment in time and space feel very special.

At the end of the film, when we finally hear the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band play their beau­tiful music, we see that des­pite their uni­forms and impec­cable man­ners, these are pas­sionate men who are seeking love, or mourning its loss.

Here is the Q&A with dir­ector Eran Kolirin from after the screening:

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Duration: 6:07

(7/10)

Tagged as: egypt, israel, music, TIFF