Dancing Arabs

Director Eran Riklis is a filmmaker with great responsibilities on his shoulders. Although Arabs citizens are a minority in Israel, no special treatment is reserved for them. This aspect of Israeli society, its rules and regulations have been depicted by him in this film. It revolves around a young boy who has to make personal sacrifices in order to be accepted in Israeli society. It is no surprise that his life undergoes major upheavals when he is accepted with some reticence, reservations in a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem. It is not a generalization when it is said that anybody can face issues related to culture, identity and language. If watched from this perspective, 'Dancing Arabs' is neither 100% pro Arab nor 100% anti Israel. "What does it mean to be an Arab in Israel ?" This key questions emanates from this film. 'Dancing Arabs' was the opening film during 19th International Film Festival of Kerala. Its lead actor Tawfik Barhom was the darling of the local media in Kerala state of India for more than a week. Before him, no other actor from Israeli cinema managed to become so popular.

I am an Israeli. There will be no spoilers here. (And sorry for my spelling mistakes).. This is very good movie tries to show both sides from one persons view.... So it is very very real.. It shows that we are just the software someone puts into us... Which means software can change and your software is only valid were you are now... It is not Valid for the future nor in a different culture. This also shows how we judge people just because of their name appearance or religion!

Very very very good movie.

According to a 2013 census, 20.7% of Israel's population are Israeli Arabs, citizens of Israel who consider themselves Palestinian by nationality. The problems that arise from these conflicting allegiances are dramatized in Avram Riklis'("Zaytoun") film Dancing Arabs, a title that denotes those who have to straddle two cultures and "dance at two weddings." Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Sayed Kashua (who also wrote the script), Dancing Arabs, known also as "A Borrowed Identity," was the opening film of the Jerusalem Film Festival in July 2014 and was scheduled to be released immediately, but was held back until now because of the war in Gaza.

The film, however, is not designed to stir up ethnic animosity but is rather a heartfelt coming-of-age story that transcends cultural barriers. Set in Tira, a predominantly Arab city in the Southern Triangle near the West Bank, the film begins in the 1980s. Eyad (Razi Gabareen), a brilliant young boy is praised by his father Salah (Ali Suliman, "Flying Home") who recognizes his potential to achieve more than he did in his life. Salah himself attended university in Jerusalem but, after serving jail time because of political activity supporting the Arab cause, now works as a fruit picker.

When the class is asked in school what their fathers do for a living, Eyad says repeatedly that his father is a terrorist and refuses to change his mind even when he is hit repeatedly on the hands by the teacher, demanding he say that he is a fruit picker. When Eyad (now played by Tawfeek Barhom, "Farewell Bagdhad") is of age he is sent to a Jerusalem boarding school where his experience of trying to fit in becomes the centerpiece of the film. As the only Arab among Jews, he is an outsider who must learn to speak a new language, study a curriculum weighted against the Arab point of view, and put up with teasing by bullies.

His difficulty with language is suggested by a scene in which Eyad pronounces the name of a rock band "Deeb Burble," because, unlike in Hebrew, there's no "p" in Arabic. As time passes, things begin to improve. One of the best scenes in the film is Eyad's eloquence in a literature class, angrily pointing out Israeli literature's inherent bias toward Arab characters, a courageous statement that even wins the plaudits of some Jewish classmates. Further, when an attractive, free-spirited classmate, Naomi (Daniel Kitsis, "S#x Acts"), takes an interest in him, they begin a relationship that grows deeper in spite of its being frowned on by society and both sets of parents.

As part of Eyad's community service requirement, he works with Yonatan (Michael Moshonov, "Policeman") a wheel-chair bound victim of Muscular Dystrophy who loves alternative rock and has a wicked sense of humor. Yonatan's mother Edna (Yael Abecassis, "That Lovely Girl") welcomes Eyad into her home not only for her Yonatan's benefit but because she genuinely likes him. Yonatan can relate to Eyad's feeling of being separate and apart from others, though the reason is very different. "Sometimes I forget you're an Arab," Yonatan says. "Me too," replies Eyad. "Don't worry," his friend responds. "Someone will always remind you."

Dancing Arabs is not a political film and the Arab-Israeli conflict remains marginal, only occasionally referred to when Eyad's family, mother (Laetitia Eido, "Article 23") and grandmother's (Marlene Bajali, "The Syrian Bride") instinctively pull for Saddam Hussein in the 1991 Gulf War until they realize what he is up against. The film is basically about good people trying to make the most of a bad situation and the fact that they are so alienated from each other because of cultural and ethnic differences is a sad commentary on the lack of political will on both sides.

While people may expect violence in a film that deals with ethnic conflict, here there are no grand dramatic gestures that turn children into martyrs, only constant reminders of everyday barriers to a sense of belonging. Even when Eyad learns the language, repeats the Jewish version of history in school, and strives to become a model Arab Israeli citizen, he is reminded every day at checkpoints and roadblocks of his being different. The political situation in Israel has deep-seated roots and we know not to expect the issues raised in the film to easily resolve themselves, yet Riklis leaves several threads hanging and insists on a forced resolution that does not ring true. While this is a regrettable choice, it does not detract from a truly fine effort.

Eran Riklis in collaboration with gifted writer Sayed Kashua has brought to the screen a thoughtful and riveting film based on Kashua's 'Dancing Arabs'. Released in North America as 'A Borrowed Identity', it unfortunately is shown only in select art houses, to a limited audience. 'Borrowed Identity' has come on to the American scene at a time of racial and ethnic tension, which in the US context is a reflection of the strain in defining who and what a person is. Kashua's script is informed in the ongoing debate in Israel for its Arab citizens of what its means to be an Israeli, at a time of rabid Jewish nationalism: at a time when the degenerative Zionist elite dreams of expelling 20 percent of Israel's population, i.e., Arabs of the right of citizenship. 'A Borrowed Identity', in a Hegelian trope, in a rude dialectic informs us that the only way Eyad, a gifted Arab Israeli, can find complete fulfillment in Israel is to become a Jew by assuming the identity of Jonathan, his doppelganger, who dies after a long bout of muscular dystrophy, with the complicity of the deceased Israeli's mother. Riklis' film should strike a chord in America in the light of the Rachel Dozeal brouhaha, whereby a white woman passes as black. The connection is problematic? And the climate in the US is hardly welcoming for understanding the plight of Arab citizens of Israel, who, as it turns out, are 'les negres d' Israel'. There is nothing to fault in the probing eye of Riklis' camera. Yael Abecassis is as ever the embodiment of discernment as Jonathan's mother, the young Tawfeek Barhom has a shrewd understanding of the film's protagonist Eyad; he infuses his character with a delicate understanding of the transformation of what Hegel calls the alter ego and then becoming Jonathan. However the love angle is predictable, but creditable, and shows the limits of Israeli liberalism. Above all, the talents of Riklis and Kashua have produced a film worthy of prizes, which the hands of less talented artists would render 'Dancing Arabs' cartoon like if not soppy in sentimentality.

In the 80's, the Palestinian Eyad Barhum is a smart boy that lives with his father, his mother, his two brothers and his grandmother in a small village. His father works picking fruits despite had going to the college because he was a terrorist when he was young. Eyad (Tawfeek Barhom) is accepted by the best high school in Jerusalem and leaves his family to stay in the boarding school. He befriends his Jewish roommate Yonatan Avrahami (Michael Moshonov), who has a degenerative muscular disease, and his Jewish schoolmate Naomi (Danielle Kitsis). Soon Eyad and Naomi fall in love with each other, but they date in secret since Palestinian are not accepted by the Jewish in general. When Naomi's mother learns that she is dating an Arab boy, she takes her daughter out of the school. However, Eya quits school to let his beloved girlfriend continue studying while he studies in homeschooling. When his father learns that he left the prestigious school, he kicks Eyad out of home. Now Eyad needs to find a job, but Arabs can only wash dishes and do not work as waiter, He decides to borrow Yonatan's identity to find a better job, while his friend is languishing at home, and lives with Yonatan and his mother Edna (Yaël Abecassis), who loves Eyad like a son. Soon he must take an ultimate decision to survive in Israel.

"Dancing Arabs" (2014) is a movie with a beautiful story of love, friendship and hatred in a country divided by the hatred of two people. The plot is engaging and heartbreaking in many moments. The cast has magnificent performance and the chemistry between Danielle Kitsis and Tawfeek Barhom is amazing. Danielle Kitsis is one of the most beautiful actresses that I have ever seen, but unfortunately there is only a few information about her in Internet. Her son is also a beautiful child. The friendship of Edna, Yonatan and Eyad is also very beautiful and a hope that one day in the future these two people can forget hatred and live in peace. I sadly learned through this film that Arabs do not speak the "p" and Israeli Arabs are treated like second class citizens in Israel. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Os Árabes Também Dançam" ("The Arabs Also Damce")