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TagsBY MIRIAM RINN
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
MOVIE REVIEW
Israel's Oscar submission this year for best foreign language film is nothing like last year's brilliant animated feature "Waltz with Bashir," but it may be just as original. Using nonprofessional actors and improvised dialogue, the co-directors Yaron Shani and Scandor Copti have fashioned a riveting, action-filled cops-and-crooks drama, which despite no mention of politics somehow manages to be about much more than a drug deal gone bad.
A seedy neighborhood in Jaffa, the Arab-centric part of greater Tel Aviv, Ajami is a place where Israeli Muslims, Christians, and Jews live uncomfortably side-by-side.
Religion divides them, language separates them, and a deeply tribal culture ensures that they remain wary and mistrustful. As in other riven societies, certain activities cross boundaries – drugs, sex, sometimes art. Shani, a Jew, and Copti, a Christian Arab, filmed the story in chronological order, then cut the scenes and rearranged them in the editing process to create a splintered tale of desperation and betrayal.
They haven't made it easy to follow, but the reward is there for the attentive viewer. The directors carefully establish the characters so we can follow the back and forth in time and place, and the tension gets tighter and tighter as we understand more. Unlike most other films that throw together a jumble of characters, then see how they land, "Ajami" never feels contrived. The structure serves the story.The plot is set in motion when a teenage boy is mistakenly killed by Bedouin thugs seeking revenge. Omar, the intended victim, seeks help from a powerful and influential businessman, who negotiates a settlement with the Bedouin clan. In these first few scenes, we understand the basis of this society – family, clan, tribe.
The law is irrelevant; problems are settled in the way they've been dealt with for centuries. The bonds between brothers, between fathers and sons, between friends are unbreakable, and strangers are not welcome. Mothers and daughters are beloved but insignificant. In this deeply emotional culture, honor, loyalty, trust are paramount.
Other characters are introduced and woven into the storyline. Malek, a sweet-natured Arab teenager from the West Bank, sneaks into Israel to work to raise money for treatment for his mother's cancer. A burly Jewish policeman searches for his brother, who has disappeared on his way home from army service, and tries to comfort his heartbroken parents. A fun-loving Arab wants to move to Tel Aviv to live with his Jewish girlfriend. These different people intersect and intertwine, yet remain completely apart.
They may bump up against each other, but they never connect, so misunderstandings abound. The viewer too, misinterprets and misunderstands, underlining one of the film's motifs.
It's impossible to provide a synopsis without giving stuff away, so intricately is the plot constructed, but the film delivers loads of excitement and action. Most of it is in Arabic, the rest in Hebrew, with English subtitles. The actors are astonishingly natural, and the technique that Copti and Shani devised of telling their players how to feel but not what to say results in characters that are much more than symbols.
While these people do foolish, violent, generous, and dangerous things, they are neither good guys nor bad guys. They behave according to the rules of their society and the needs of their individual personalities. That roundedness and the terrific editing done by the co-directors make "Ajami" something special.
