Cinema, like all art, has many intentions and has the power to convey any story or theme imaginable. One such theme prevalent in many films is that of current political affairs, with contemporary issues often pervading the cinematic landscape. While many of these films are very effective, writing about them can be a challenge, because unless one feels very strongly about these issues, a discussion on the political content can be a tricky endeavor. One film in particular that comes to mind is the subject of this review, The Band’s Visit (Hebrew: ביקור התזמורת – Bikur Ha-Tizmoret), a film that always seemed to have resonance to the current political situation in the Middle East. However, what I expected to be a serious portrayal of intercultural tension was actually, to my enormous surprise, something entirely different. A comical and emotionally-resonant social drama about two worlds colliding and finding common ground, in spite of the overarching issues that trouble them and their cultures. A delicate, searing film, The Band’s Visit is really a terrific story that subverts expectations and becomes something truly memorable through an abundance of heart and a wealth of good-natured humor and narrative simplicity. While not a particularly distinctive film by virtue of its nature, The Band’s Visit is an incredibly powerful film about finding a common ground even in the most difficult of situations.

The Band’s Visit takes place over the course of roughly two days. The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra, a band from Egypt, arrive in Israel to perform at an event focused on Arab culture. Unfortunately, due to a small mistake, they end up in a small desert town of Beit Hatikva, where they are stranded for an evening without any way to get out. Luckily, the eight men encounter Dina (Ronit Elkabetz), a local restaurant owner who is far more welcoming to these foreigners than one would expect, organizing for them to spend the night in the town, with Dina herself taking in two of the men – the uptight and reserved leader of the band, Lieutenant-Colonel Tawfiq Zacharya (Sasson Gabbai) and the young and charming lothario, Haled (Saleh Bakri). Over the course of the evening, these strangers become friends with the locals, and despite the overt political tension one would expect, nothing but friendship and hospitality is extended to these individuals. The focus is specifically on Tawfiq, whose demeanour is less a product of his innate personality but rather a result of his psychological distance due to his own personal life and history, which Dina manages to wrangle out of him with her charming, open nature which helps thaw the curmudgeonly man, exposing his well-guarded vulnerabilities and helping him work through them. Love, loss, and hope are all the major concepts that come into play through these interactions, with characters finding the acceptance and solace that they craved, and all they had to do was to find themselves stuck in a desert town in another country.

The cast of The Band’s Visit really is very good, but there are some shortcomings, which I will get to in due course. The focus of the film is on three major characters, and the performances of the actors occupying these roles are great. Dina is played with effortless grace and endless charm by the incredible Ronit Elkabetz, whose diverse, but tragically short, career defined her as one of the greatest Israeli performers to ever live. Her performance as Dina is astonishing – there are not many performers who can attest to being able to convey such fiery independence and humble vulnerability, all within a single moment. I was truly shaken by the gritty realism within Elkabetz’s performance, finding it utterly extraordinary. Sasson Gabbai, playing the persnickety (but not overbearing) commander of the band is equally as good, and his performance feels extremely natural, with his outward persona masking a much more complex inner turmoil that has unfortunately grown to define him, making him forget the good moments of his life. Gabbai is astounding, finding the humanity in a character that is otherwise unlikable, and as the film progresses, his guard is let down, and the audience (as well as the other characters with whom he interacts) start to understand this character. Gabbai’s performance is nuanced and sensitive, and he leads the film with admirable aplomb and meaningful subtlety. Finally, Saleh Bakri is worth mentioning, because while his role is smaller than the two aforementioned leading roles, he is still central to the story. He and Khalifa Natour, who plays Simon, are reliable supporting presences, playing characters that may not be potentially consequential to the story as a whole, but are pivotal to the story. Unfortunately, this is where the main issue with the film lies: despite the titular “band” consisting of eight individuals, only three of them are paid any attention, with the rest being relegated to simply being present, rather than becoming fully-formed individuals. It is not too worrying, as the film is beautiful regardless, but if the focus had been slightly less on the growing friendship between the two leads, and more exploration had been done into the stories of the other band members, The Band’s Visit would have been even better. However, the cast is reliable, and even if most don’t have too much to do, they work well together in a strong ensemble.

For a film focused entirely on interactions between Israelis and Arabs, The Band’s Visit is refreshingly apolitical. It neither ignores the current political climate, nor makes light of the situation: it acknowledges the issue, but doesn’t foreground it, choosing to rather focus on the individual story rather than making any overtly political statements. The director of the film, Eran Kolirin, made some bold choices in focusing on the humanity of the story, looking at the interactions between these two characters, rather than going in a direction that could have been socially and culturally profound if it had looked at the truthfulness of the situation, but also not nearly as nuanced and fascinating as the final product. Obviously, not everything about the Arabic and Israeli cultures coming into contact must have something to do with the decades-long conflict that has been ongoing, and perhaps sometimes the most profound statement is one that doesn’t overtly say anything at all, like this film, which uses its resonant story and thematic content to tell a story that is beyond touching, and conveys a message that is not limited to the confines of this story, and may resonate with many viewers.

This message is quite a simple one, but one that is no less important: the value of hope. The film takes a set of individuals from two different cultures, ones that have been in conflict for decades, and places them in the same arid space, bound by a general sense of subtle isolation, but being able to move forward and remain somewhat optimistic due to their relentless hopefulness. When watching The Band’s Visit, one is struck by how lighthearted it tends to be – it has a lot of heartful humor throughout, which gives it a distinctively melancholic tone, one that allows the audience to feel joy, but not distracting from the poetic poignancy of the story or the circumstances around it. Kolirin breaks this story down to the irreparably human core, focusing on the individual stories, and how despite coming from different backgrounds, these people have quite a bit in common, having the same insecurities and anxieties, having experienced loss and heartbreak throughout their lives, and more than anything else, being relentlessly hopeful for the prospect of a better day ahead. It is a simple approach, and the story is filled to the brim with emotional resonance evoked by the nuanced human aspects present throughout. The Band’s Visit is a film made by someone who understands human nature, and through placing two different cultures across from one another, he is able to show that despite the socio-political issues that separate cultures, deep down, we are all the same in some way. The Band’s Visit starts out showing the ways these characters are so radically different, before gradually revealing that they were far more similar than they thought they were. Perhaps a cliched and hackneyed sentiment, but it works wonderfully here

The Band’s Visit is a wonderful film. It is a moving ode to the resilience of the human spirit, a deeply touching and often extremely funny film about two cultures clashing and finding common ground in their shared melancholy. The cast is exceptional, with Ronit Elkabetz and Sasson Gabbai being particular standouts. It may not be the most visually-stunning filmmaking, and it may be overly simplistic in its story at times, but it is an effective story about friendship, working through the difficult parts of the past, and most importantly, holding out hope, even in the most difficult of situations. It is a beautifully poetic film and one that covers a lot of thematic ground despite its constrained style and execution. It may not be the most profound film of its kind, but it wears its heart on its sleeve, and provides real, meaningful emotion for its beautifully evocative story, and if nothing else, it reminds us of the virtue of understanding each other on a purely human level, which does mean a great deal when we consider how, despite the differences that separate us, there’s a lot more that unites us. The Band’s Visit is quite simply exquisite, and a film featuring different languages, but focused on the only one that matters, and that we all understand: being human.