Film

The Band’s Visit

The question of what really matters in an age where economic considerations dominate lies at the heart of the film The Band’s Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret).

Winner of over 30 International Film Awards, The Band’s Visit tells of a small Egyptian Police band that arrives in Israel to play at an initiation ceremony but is left stranded at the airport. Band members try to manage on their own, only to find themselves in a desolate, almost forgotten, small Israeli town, somewhere in the heart of the desert.

They are a lost band in a lost town.

Director and scriptwriter Eran Kolirin said, “A lot of movies have been made touching on the question of why there is no peace, but it seems that fewer have been made about the question of why we need peace in the first place.

“The obvious is lost on us in the midst of conversations centring on economic advantages and interests. At the end of the day, my son and my neighbour’s son will meet in some neon-blinking mall under a giant McDonald’s sign.

“Maybe that’s some kind of comfort, I don’t know. What’s certain though is that we’ve lost something on the way. We traded true love for one-night stands, art for commerce, and the human connection, the magic of conversation for the question of how big a slice of the pie we can put our hands on.”

What Would Jesus Buy?

See the DVD review here.