The Bands Visit (Kolirin, 2007): Israel

Eran Kolirin’s , The Band’s Visit, is a perfect example of how cinematic beauty can be utterly simplistic. With a miniscule budget, a fairly straightforward plot, The Bands Visit will keep you laughing while touch you in a most human way. Shown at the Arlington Theater during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, this film is an absolute must see, simply to remind us that quality film need not rely on the over indulgences that Hollywood has convinced us are necessary.

The film begins with an Egyptian Bands arrival in Israel. They are the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra, there to perform at the Arab Cultural Center, but find themselves lost when they travel to the wrong town. The leader of the band is Tawfiq, a reserved and conservative older man. They seek help from a young and sexy owner of a diner. She explains how far they are from their destination and that the next bus doesn’t leave until the following morning and invites them to stay with her. While only Tawfiq and the younger more attractive flirt, Kahled are the only ones who actually stay the night at her place. The rest of the band stays with another employee and his family. As the movie unfolds, we begin to see deeper into several of these characters, and what they hold with them deep inside. The film begins with a tone of absurdist humor, but eventually moves into an inspection of the human soul.

While no amazing or out of the ordinary events occur, the experiences theses men have are more than significant. Major Colonel Camal plays the clarinet and has been working on a beautiful concerto. He play’s it several times but always ends it abruptly because he has not created an ending. The insight he provides after is quite touching. What if that is the ending, no dazzling big finish, just that. He say’s, “maybe it’s just about loneliness, like this small room, a bed, a child asleep, you don’t feel sad or happy, just a little bit of loneliness.” That line is this film in a nutshell. An amazing cinematic experience with nothing shiny or attractive, just quality acting with a quality script.

The only thing I find shocking about this film is the miniscule the amount of press it has gotten. It has already won the award for best picture is Israel, the equivalent to our Oscars. Although the film is mainly in English simply because it is the only common language understood between the Israeli’s and the Egyptians, it should be nominated for best foreign film. This is a movie that you should try and see at all costs, simply brilliant.