ShareThisEgyptians invade Israel with comical results in "The Band's Visit," which plays like something Wes Anderson would come up with if he had no budget and lived in the Middle East.First-time Israeli writer-director Eran Kolirin muses on quirks in cultural relations in his home region, using droll comedy to slip in his sly messages.The invading army bears instruments instead of guns. The Egyptian music group, the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, is dressed in military-style uniforms complete with medals and ribbons juxtaposing the innocuous baby-blue color of the fabric.The band is in Israel to play at the opening of an Arab cultural center, but a travel mishap has left it stranded in a tiny desert town with no way to leave until the next day. A kindly diner worker, Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), arranges for the band to dine and stay over, graciously accepting Egyptian money.A fragile courtship develops between the outgoing Dina and the band's stiff, emotionally repressed leader, Tawfiq (Sasson Gabai), as they trade stories of past wounds and hard-learned philosophies. There's a clear connection there, which both parties know is stifled by geopolitical circumstances.The narrative cuts away from the Dina-Tawfiq plot to goings-on at a skating rink, where Haled (Saleh Bakri), a ladies' man, helps an awkward Israeli relate to his date, who is sobbing because she's mistaken his shyness for indifference.In the movie's signature scene, the three characters sit on a bench, with Haled playing Cyrano. He pantomimes the moves he suggests his pal should make, such as offering him a tissue, stroking his hair and placing a hand on his knee for comfort, triggering him to instantly do the same to the girl.The writing and performances are finely calibrated, although, as you'd expect, many of the cultural references fly over your head. There are plenty of Western pop-culture nods as well, including a charmingly antiquated nod to Michael Jackson.While Kolirin clearly loves his characters, you can sense a general tone of condescension in the way they think and interact. His point seems to be that wars and political strife are for the cunning and egotistical, and that the simple and innocuous of every race and nationality can get along just fine.That's an oversimplification, but it's a nice world to dwell in for 87 minutes -- where strangers look for similarities rather than differences with one another.3 stars out of 4Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language.Family call: Fine for children who can handle subtitles.Et cetera: In English, Arabic and Hebrew, with subtitles.(Phil Villarreal is the author of the novel "Stormin' Mormon," due out in March and available on Amazon.com. Contact him at pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Egyptian orchestra invades Israel to comic effect
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