Le fils de l'autre

The French film, "Le fils de l'autre," was shown in the U.S. with the title "The Other Son" (2012). It was co-written and directed by Lorraine Levy. As the title suggests, the movie plot hinges around two young men, born at the same time in the same hospital, who were switched by mistake. To make the situation even worse, one set of parents is Palestinian, and one is Israeli.

Once everyone comes to the realization that the mistake truly happened, the men are faced with the knowledge that their "parents" aren't their biological parents, their religion is not what it would be if the switch hadn't happened, and their position within the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been reversed.

The only good news is that both sets of parents, and both of the young men, are people of good will. They all want to work out some sort of arrangement that will make this bizarre situation a little less painful.

The knowledge about the switch is a life-altering event for all six people. How they survive--or don't survive--this event is what makes this such a fascinating film. This movie will work well on DVD. I suggest you seek it out and watch it. It will repay the effort

I'd reached the point some time ago where I stopped watching films about the holocaust and the intractable Palestine-Israel situation. Then I saw a review of this film that suggested something other than bleak, bleak, bleak and get out the razor for humanity's wrist. So I watched it.

It took the life-affirming premise that even in the worst of situations, which the dispossessed Palestinians have been enduring for more than 60 years, people generally want to live, laugh, have friends, love and, most of all, stay alive. Strapping explosives to your chest is NOT the norm there, even for impressionable young men.

What I saw was a very human story of parents and children trying to come to terms with a sudden reversal of reality. Messy, untidy, forcing a rethink of lifelong prejudices in the face of a farcical bureaucratic mix-up.

The mothers ache with a visceral sense of loss. The fathers quietly rage (and in one sequence not so quietly) in their dumbfoundment. The kid sisters take people as they find them. The boys are stupefied .. to begin with. Then the everyday takes over. Having to absorb it all, then go on living. And all get wiser, a little more worldly, a little less inclined to stereotype. A little richer.

Unlikely? I don't think so. As has often been observed, "Travel broadens the mind." And there's nothing like a good emotional somersault to do exactly that. People can and do change. It didn't feel like a film, more like watching through hidden cameras as life unfolds.

I'm surprised that there are only two reviews - now three - of this movie on IMDb. It got a very good review when it played up in Cleveland, and since I couldn't make the trip up there to see it, I waited and rented it from Netflix. It was worth the wait.

The situation is straight out of an early Shakespeare comedy: two babies are switched at birth by mistake in a maternity ward, such that a Jewish Israeli family raises a young Arab and a Palestinian family raises a young Jewish Israeli. Just short of their 18th birthdays, they learn the truth.

The first part of the movie deals with the reactions of the four parents. All four actors give truly moving, first-rate performances. The Jewish father is an officer in the Israeli army, someone who has spent his life fighting Arabs. Still, he is torn apart by what he perceives as the loss of his son. The Arab father doesn't know how to react: is he now harboring a hated Israeli in his own poor home? But he, too, loves his son very much, and cannot deal with the thought of losing him.

The two mothers also experience a feeling of loss, but are able to speak to each other in ways that the two fathers, for political reasons, cannot.

The son of the Jewish couple finds acceptance in the Palestinian family through a mutual love of music. It is less clear how the son of the Arab couple will fit in the Jewish family. Will Yacine be able to tolerate living with an Israeli army officer? How will his family deal with that? The movie, as I said, is based on a clichéd theatrical device, but there is nothing clichéd about the acting or the script here: it all seems very real, and often very intense. It never seems fake. Unlike what the other two reviews suggest, not everything is resolved here by the end of the movie. That would have been too pat, too American-TV.

I strongly recommend this movie. It's really well done.

Le fils de l'autre ! Simply to address the complaint of the first reviewer for seeing only two reviews for such a great work, I'll give it my five cents too! But I have to add there are 19 reviews before mine now!

I can't take any credit for having seen this wonderful story. I have a friend who, I think, on the account that I "was" French; often will pick French movies for our two couples to see at an independent theatre in Sydney.

And what a choice it was! I always been a fan of Emmanuelle Devos, and once more she was such a strong part of this movie. But as many reviewers have testified everyone else was also very good.

It is a very believable situation but also "poignante"; and you would have to be made of ice for not be emotionally involved with this 'semi' tragic story.

As the story line simply states: Two young men, one Israeli and one Palestinian, discover they were accidentally switched at birth ... For five cents you won't get more from me, but do yourself a favour, have a look at it.

This is an excellent piece of cinema, treating of a very tricky and complex question with intelligence, sensibility and heart. Extremely well acted, the characters are full of warmth, and both sides in the end seem equally right. Of course, we wish the current conflict could be sorted with the same compassionate approach but sadly this would be naive. Still, the film gives a very hopeful message that one likes to believe in. I am just back from Israel and feel the atmosphere of the movie is very true and genuine. If only understanding each other's culture could be done in a similar heartfelt way.

Enjoy!