Reaction: The Band's Visit

I saw another one of those little known gems again last night. The Band's Visit is, in short, a slice-of-life film about the experience of a small group of ordinary people lost in a strange land. An Egyptian ceremonial police band has been invited to Israel to perform at a newly opened Arab Cultural Centre. However, due to a logistical error, the arrives at the airport without anyone to pick them up. So off they go looking for help.

With what little English they know, the Arabic group stumble their way along until they wind up in a small rural town which unsurprisingly has very little in the way of hotels or public transportation. The band finds that their only recourse now is to find a place to stay the night.

Through their encounters, we slowly learn about several of the members. One, who at first appears to be an arrogant but smooth-talking womanizer turns out to be a pleasant fellow willing to help an awkward local teen score with a girl. A tired and regretful second-in-command finds inspiration to complete his concerto in a most unlikely place. And grouchy lonely old band leader confronts his own past with the help of a kind local woman willing to listen.

And as the film winds down (the morning after), just as suddenly as they arrived the previous afternoon, the band disappears and makes their way to their performance. I suppose that made for a debate among my fellow movie-goers. I enjoy these vignette-style tales about ordinary people. Nothing has to conclude in order to tell a story. Life, more often than not, is about the moments in between events.

This is not a Hollywood movie in any capacity. It's not something I can seriously recommend to anybody who's not willing to look beyond the surface of a movie. I sound pretentious but I know some people who won't even watch an animated feature because "it's a cartoon" and by definition, they cannot take it seriously. What I mean is that this film looks at the way people see each other. In fact, it speaks volumes about small-town people, which is far more universal that Hebrews versus Arabs. This movie could have very easily have been about a group of English performers stuck in rural Quebec, and it the stories of them would have unraveled in a very similar fashion.

For such an exploration of human natures, I give this film a thumbs up. However, for everything else. Well, a movie is a movie and therefore must at the end of all things, be entertaining. And while it did have several amusing moments, was not particularly consistent with its pace. It's most definitely a mood-film.