I take the point that this is not a political film, that it's about interaction on a human level. A story that basically could have taken place in any imaginary place, about a band visit from a neighbouring country - maybe USA and Mexico.
Just not Israel and Egypt! For the film to be any positive contribution to relations it really needed to include some element of realism.
For example I find it completely non-credible that a group of 8 Egyptian men (of any background) would happily spend the night with Israeli families, without at least ONE of them raising objections and bringing up the fact that the 2 countries are long-time enemies and that this is tantamount to treason! I speak as an Egyptian by the way, who would gladly interact with Israelis (I assume good-will unless the individual proves otherwise). I can't speak of the Israeli population of the small town, but something tells me that there too, someone would have raised objections, expressed disgust, anger..
To me, what the film lacked, despite its beauty, is any kind of friction. It just smoothed over long existing tensions as if they never existed. In its effort to emphasize the common humaneness, it sidestepped conflicts, like someone who refuses to look the problem in the eye. You don't tackle a problem by ignoring it exists. I'm sure there was a clever way that this could have been approached while still maintaining the film's spirit.
Just not Israel and Egypt! For the film to be any positive contribution to relations it really needed to include some element of realism.
For example I find it completely non-credible that a group of 8 Egyptian men (of any background) would happily spend the night with Israeli families, without at least ONE of them raising objections and bringing up the fact that the 2 countries are long-time enemies and that this is tantamount to treason! I speak as an Egyptian by the way, who would gladly interact with Israelis (I assume good-will unless the individual proves otherwise). I can't speak of the Israeli population of the small town, but something tells me that there too, someone would have raised objections, expressed disgust, anger..
To me, what the film lacked, despite its beauty, is any kind of friction. It just smoothed over long existing tensions as if they never existed. In its effort to emphasize the common humaneness, it sidestepped conflicts, like someone who refuses to look the problem in the eye. You don't tackle a problem by ignoring it exists. I'm sure there was a clever way that this could have been approached while still maintaining the film's spirit.