Torn Apart

My review was written in March 1990 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.

"Torn Apart" looks at the Middle East crisis from a different angle, using a "Romeo and Juliet" type of love story, but the result is a flat picture. Best chances are in commercial tv use.

Adrian Pasdar, currently starring in Fox' "Vital Signs", toplines as a Jew who is brought by his dad (Barry Primus) to New York from Israel after the six-day war in 1967. He returns in 1973 to serve in the Israeli army and becomes romantically involved with Laila (Cecilia Peck), an Arab girl he grew up with.

Of course both families are dead set against such a liaison, but matters are made worse when Peck goes to a friendly Arab professor (Arnon Zadok) for advice. He's a liberal who hopes for improved relations between the Palestinians and Israelis, while Peck's family and friends begin to thin of her as a traitor. All hell breaks loose in a tragic ending tha unfortunately doesn't have the grace of the Shakespeare play.

Debuting director Jack Fisher gets good atmosphere from his location filming in Israel, but pic founders due to an awkward structure built around an undelivered letter and Pasdar's reminiscences. Despite its R rating, film is too bland for its own good and definitely not strong enough to capture the attention of demanding theatrical audiences.

Cast is generally effective, with swarthy Pasdar passing for a sabra, and the graceful Peck, daughter of Gregory Peck in her biggest screen role to date, surprisingly convincing in an ethnic role. Yaffit Mazar is well-matched to Peck in portraying the same character in the '67 prolog.

Exec producer Peter Arnow contributes an interesting, melancholy musical score.

In a film that might have been called 'West Bank Story' an innocent but forbidden friendship between a young Israeli soldier and the Arab girl-next-door blossoms into romance when the two are reunited in a hostile, rock-tossing Palestinian community on the wrong side of the Jordan River. The lovers try their best to overcome the adversity of their environment, but someone should have done what the title suggests to an early draft of the script before it ever went before a camera. Aside from all the soft focus inanities and syrupy music score, the film is characterized by inadequate acting and direction, a poorly recorded soundtrack (actually a blessing in disguise), and a Harlequin Romance view of Middle Eastern politics. It's almost worth the price of admission for the unintended laughs, for example when Ben tells Leila they should leave their troubled homeland to live together somewhere in peace and tranquility, and then suggests New York City (!!) as a possibility.

This is an excellent movie whose love scenes are more richly created by the real life romance of Adrian Pasdar and Cecilia Peck. Pasdar actually went through the Israel's rigorous military boot camp to perfect his character.

The film takes us on a romantic journey, set against the backdrop of hatred and violence in the Middle East. Adrian Padar and Cecilia Peck play star crossed lovers who try to overcome impossible odds to survive and to attempt to prove that their love can withstand the threat of death. An amazingly engrossing and compelling story that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me fall in love with the characters, who were so real that it was uncanny. I recommend this to all, and have shown this to all my friends. Should definitely not be missed an seen with friends, family and romantic partners. It is also a very good analysis of the ongoing problems between Arabs and Jews in Israel, that resonates for Americans as well, due to their involvement in Iraq and other Moslem countries.