West Bank Brooklyn

I watched this film at the AFI film festival and found it to be nothing less than a gem of an indie film. The film was shot before 9/11 in New York City which makes its message about growing up Muslim even more startling. The story centers on a Palestinian family living in an Arab neighborhood that runs through a Jewish neighborhood. Tensions begin to rise throughout the film when the main character secretly takes a job working for a dying Jewish man to pay for college while his older brother tries to keep a lid on a secret relationship with a anglo girl after he's given an arranged marriage by his father. Writer/director Ghazi Albuliwi plays a very funny character named Saddam who decides to become Puerto Rican and renames himself "Tito" rather than be Arab/Muslim in public. The director is a twenty something guy and is someone to watch.

I saw this film at IFP this fall, and was quite impressed with it as an independent first film from its director. While parts of the film get bogged down by too much talk (using visual language and symbolism may have gotten some points across better than verbal discussion...almost lecture from the characters) overall I felt the performances from the actors were very strong and their characters well drawn by the writer/director. Humanizing the portrayal of Palestinians as ordinary people is a welcome subtext of the film.