305 days, 305 films- The Band’s Visit

Film #4- The Band’s Visit.

Do you know Chet Baker? See this film and you’ll understand.

I’m actually worried that this post will not be noticed since it will be published on the notorious #FollowFriday and this film needs to be noticed. The solution? This post will be published today and again tomorrow, in the midst of my #ShakesepeareSaturday . Don’t worry, you’ll still get 305 films! I am only trying to make sure The Band’s Visit gets the exposure it needs because it’s such a good film.

I don’t like talking about Mid-East politics. In the words of Rodney King, “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?” Seriously, why isn’t anyone taking that man’s advice?

Why bring up this topic? Because The Band’s Visit is the first film I have ever seen about an Israeli and an Egyptian group of people and it doesn’t even begin to touch any kind of politics. It’s a brilliant love story with a very honest feel that you don’t get from a lot of films these days. A Police Orchestra is trying to navigate their way to a metropolitan city in  Israel to perform for a cultural event. Thanks to some words being lost in translation, they end up in a remote town where there is “no culture at all”. That’s where The Band gets its funny, charming moments. Something needs to be said about the clever idea of creating a communication barrier between two groups of people but involving the music variable in the equation. The Band is also a story about self discovery and trying to close the door on pasts that have tortured the souls of some of these characters. It actually made me think that maybe one day we’ll look past where we came from and concentrate on the future ahead.