The Band's Visit (2007)

Understate, elegant. Reminds me in a way of You Can Count on Me in the sense that it is small, but oh so powerful. It is way beyond politics or even culture. It's about how such a small amount of quiet openings between people can create bridges spanning all gaps and differences. It's an elegant vehicle running an all cylinders: acting, direction, photography, and music, but not music all over the place, rather music placed, in just he right places. It's an unrushed film finding enormous beauty in the small spaces of a place in the middle of nowhere. It's about how little language is really needed by patient people ready to communicate the most important things. It's about persistence, tenderness, loss, loneliness. It's about people reaching out for no reason other than to bridge a distance. It's about the best parts of being a human being.

Fmovies: Very Original and most enjoyable Comedy. The Band from Alexandrian Police comes to Israel and goes to Beit Tiqva instead of Petah Tiqva by mistake. Sasson Gabai and Ronit Elkabetz play an excellent comedy with a human touch. Beit Hatiqva is a far out town that has one bus a day in the desert. The Residents are originally from Arab Countries and Culture. High Unemployment and Boredem in this far out town. Sasson Gabai plays Tawfik the Band Leader. Sasson is not Egyptian but manages to play the part including small gestures of Middle Class Egyptian Officers. The Rest of the cast are good too. All though the film is very funny there are hints to serious issues. In our fast paced emerging market Society, People are left behind. The Band is a good Old Fashioned Band. Beit Hatiqva is a forgotten town like many in Israel. Most of the movie is in Arabic and English and little Hebrew. Go and see this Human Comedy.

Eran Kolirin is a name to watch out for. This film maker is simply brilliant. In the band's visit he tells a quite simple story, but not without pulling a trick here and there and believe me, he's not a one trick pony. Actor performances are subdued and very truthful making the movie a story of unpersued dreams that goes straight to the heart. It's warm melancholy mood never gets heavy or painful cause it's countered so wittily with scenes that make you smile from ear to ear. To top it all off there's well chosen music, honest photography and clever camera direction. The Band's visit tells of a classic mix-up, but without ever being cheap.

The Band's Visit fmovies. As a dedicated husband of a BAFTA voting member, we trawl through 100+ DVD's at this time of year. The Hollywood movies all blur into muchness, but then this film comes along without any fancy marketing blurb, no fancy box, just a DVD in a plastic sleeve. We put it in and said we would give it 10 minutes, and spent the next 100 minutes or so spellbound and laughing our socks off! The acting was simply wonderful, the comic situations and timing were redolent of "The Office", and the political analogies were intriguing, The soundtrack was the best of any 2007 movie imho. It gets our nomination for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Soundtrack, with further nominations for the "Dina" and "Tewfiq" actors plus a vote for others in the band in the supporting actor category.

Try to see it if you can!

A movie that should be getting lot more press.

Enjoyable and bit quirky to see the kinds of situations people get into, that are much like we may experience anywhere else in the world.

Others have laid out the plot well and nothing more needs to be said about how the story develops.

I found two scene in this movie the kind that one must remember, rather like the many one may recall from Bogart in Casablanca.

The exchange at the phone and the scenes at the skating rink are precious and very well acted.

This is a movie I recommend seeing and then putting into memory to come back and see again and again just for the pure pleasure of a well developed comedy.

I liked this movie. As a viewer, I was subjected to a wide range of emotions during this film: joy, frustration, embarrassment, delight and so on.

One must understand that Israel and Egypt had been long time enemies (until the peace agreement in 1979) and that Israeli Jews and Arabs have very different views on so many matters. Within this context the humanity of the film really shines. People of such different backgrounds are basically the same; Same hopes and aspirations, same fears and frustrations etc. The same things make all of us tick.

This film is also about strangers and others. And how we can help one another. The scene with Haled and the Israeli boy and girl in the skating rink is, my opinion, classic.

enjoy