| The Band's Visit | 
 enlarge | Director: Eran Kolirin
Actors: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour, Shlomi Avraham
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.96
Buy Used: $8.32
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 4354
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Hebrew (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 87
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD23873D
UPC: 043396238732
EAN: 0043396238732
ASIN: B0013HL6ES
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: July 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This heartwarming and poignant winner of the Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard prize is the mesmerizing and witty story of strangers in a strange land. A fading Egyptian police band arrives in Israel to play at the Arab Cultural Center. When they take the wrong bus, the band members find themselves in a desolate Israeli village. With no other option than to spend the night with the local townspeople, the two distinctly different cultures realize the universal bonds of love, music and life. Set against a breathtaking desert landscape, this cross-cultural comedy proves that getting lost is sometimes the best way to find yourself.
Amazon.com
Can movies change the world? In a word, no. But Israeli writer and director Eran Kolirin's utterly charming and engaging The Band's Visit suggests that if we could somehow put aside the politics and the religion, stifle the governments and the rhetoric, and mix in a little Gershwin, maybe even people with a history of cross-cultural suspicion and hostility really can get along. Not that the film has such pretensions--far from it. This is a simple tale involving a group of Egyptian musicians, the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra, who arrive in Israel for a concert. Things don't go well; there's no one to meet them at the airport, and they mistakenly end up in a small, drab desert town called Bet Hatikva, a place whose own residents refer to it as "bloody nowhere." But the people, especially cafe owner Dina (a marvelous performance by Ronit Elkabetz), are friendly and welcoming, and when they urge the band members to stay overnight before heading to their proper destination the next day, strait-laced leader Tewfiq (Sasson Gabai) finally relents. What follows is a series of plain but lovely scenes, as the Egyptians and Israelis (speaking English, their common language) tentatively search for common ground. Khaled (Saleh Bakri), the ladies man of the group ("Do you like Chet Baker?" is his favorite pick-up line), accompanies two young couples to a roller rink, where he comically helps the painfully timid Papi (Shlomi Avraham) connect with his date; meanwhile, the dignified but taciturn Tewfiq gradually warms to Dina's manifest charms, and the other musicians share a rousing chorus of "Summertime" with their Israeli hosts. The Band's Visit is filled with moments of humor, tenderness, tension, sadness, regret, and, as one character puts it, "tons of loneliness," every one of them delivered without the slightest bit of pretension or manipulation (not to mention political or religious overtones). And when, at the end, we finally hear the Orchestra perform, we only wish we could spend more time with all of these delightful characters. --Sam Graham
Stills from The Band's Visit (click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 What you feel will be more than what you see November 19, 2008
Good writing, it has been argued, demands a keen sense of what to leave out. This remarkable film excels in its choice of what to omit.
Never before in viewing a film have I so strongly felt the presence of matters off-screen. This film, I believe, is nothing less than a profound fable about the whole of relations between the Arab and Israeli worlds. Remarkably what triumphs here is the humanity of each culture. Each is heroic; each is humane.
Sadly, there is never peacefulness, just tension never resolved; sadly, there is never triumph, just accomodation. There is an aching sadness throughout the film--there has been loss; there still is loss, there will always be loss. Throughout the film--especially in the silent moments (where I swear you hear the voices of Jewish and Muslim dead) and especially in the memorable shots of empty landscapes and ruminative shots of main characters--which never seem to fully fill the camera frame (where I swear you see the ghosts of Arab and Israeli dead)--there is the weight of a ruinous past, a troubled present, an unresolved future.
May G-d bless; Inshallah
Sad movie November 8, 2008
This movie has an interesting premise, but leaves you wanting more. Almost all of the Egyptian band members act very reserved and depressed during the movie. They rarely smile, say much or do anything. It seems like this movie has a lot of potential for friednships to form, but it ends up seeming like an inconsequential visit. The movie is worth checking out, but in my opinion it ends up being less than advertised.
Lost and Found October 23, 2008
Like the utterly different Paradise Now, The Band's Visit finds the complex humans behind the popular dichotomies of the Middle East. A budget-pressed Egyptian police band, still resplendent in their (as one character says) "Michael Jackson" uniforms arrives in Israel, is not met by their sponsors, takes travel matters into their own hands, and winds up lost and nearly without money in the most dreary desert town this side of Wristcutters: A Love Story. The band is hungry; its straitlaced director approaches the restaurant owner, Dina, and asks for food and the chance to pay with Egyptian money. She prepares a meal and, after telling them there is no hotel in town, invites them to stay in her home and that of her unemployed friend with marriage problems and a wife's birthday.
And so the bare desert stage is set for a singular night. Among the many quiet, amusing and lonely vignettes: the band director, Tewfiq, reveals his personal sadness to Dina in a concrete plaza as they listen to an imaginary sea; a band member unconsciously wipes out a glass as if in a dubious restaurant, except he's sitting at table with his Israeli hosts; and -- best of all -- the band's ladies man gives dating help in a roller rink to a painfully shy Israeli.
Day comes, the band moves on to its correct destination, and plays. Life returns to normal, but normal for the dozen characters in The Band's Visit has been forever, if only slightly, altered.
and the band played on October 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A delightful and reflective film, but not something for folks looking for lots of action. However, for those of you who intensely dislike subtitles, almost all the dialog is in English as it's the only language the Egyptians and Israelis share. A small Egyptian Police orchestra is sent to Israel on a cultural exchange program, but gets badly lost due to the differences between Arabic and Hebrew. The band director sends the youngest member of the group to the bus ticket booth, but he's too busy flirting with the pretty vendor to pay much attention to what she's actually saying. In Arabic the letter P doesn't exist, so Arabs usually say B instead as in Bebsi Cola. So instead of going to Petah Tikva, just outside of Tel Aviv, they wind up going to a small isolated desert town, Bet Hatikva where they quickly become stranded. Although both sides are immediately suspicious of each other, the townsfolk take them in and give them food and shelter for the night, and over time the two groups find they have more in common individually and culturally than either imagines. Every thing is low key, and while there's quite a bit of humor throughout, it's not really at anyone's expense. However, the scene where the young Egyptian coaches a young Israeli on how to approach a woman is a scream. Well worth watching.
Invisible Politics October 7, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
"The Band's Visit"
Invisible Politics
Amos Lassen
The new Israeli film "The Band's Visit" has an interesting approach. It is a film about Arabs and Israelis without politics. Basically it is the story of an eight man Egyptian band that is stranded in an Israeli desert town overnight. The members of the band have no money and they are forced to depend upon the Israelis citizens to provide them with both and shelter. Israelis are by nature rough on the outside but tender within are the opposite of the polite and dignified, but broke, Egyptians. As the film explores the characters, we get a new and humorous look at Arab/Israeli relations. Nothing much happens aside from small exchanges between the two groups of people. The two groups also learn a great deal about each other during the band's visit. What they learn most is the definition of humanity.
Eran Kolirin wrote and directed this wonderful little film. There is not a lot of dialog because the two groups do not speak the same language and the fact that there is not much to talk about in the middle of the desert. One stellar performance, however, stands out--Ronit Elkabetz as Dina who has the quality of the citizens of the town Beit Hatikva down pat.
There are several wonderful scenes here that are not likely to be forgotten. To some the film may seem slow and low-key but after getting into the film there are lots of rewards. For one thing the theme of loneliness is beautifully handled. Everyone seems lonely for a different reason and some come to terms with it by embracing someone from a culture that they have been taught to hate.
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