When Pigs Have Wings

The fishermen of Gaza aren't allowed to sail to the high seas and therefore hardly land anything. Especially Jafaar, a likable chap, who returns to port with two sardines (and two single sandals), when his colleagues at least catch something they can sell on the market. Jafaar is like Chaplin's Little Tramp, a likable loser who never stops trying and never loses hope. Then, one day, he lands a big catch: a living pig! However, as a Muslim he can't eat it himself, he fails to sell it to a UN official (the only Christian he knows), and the Jews won't buy it either. Then he finds a Russian girl in a Jewish settlement (in this movie, there are still Jewish settlements in Gaza) who is at least willing to enter into a limited business agreement with Jafaar ...

There is a veritable industry churning out movies about the Middle East conflict. The stories are usually modern fairy tales, probably in order to address the absurd reality without hurting anyone, and all characters are charming and full of human weaknesses. Israeli soldiers are usually gruff on the outside (the movie is critical!), but when you get to know them they're just ordinary chaps who watch Telenovelas just like everybody else (the movie is balanced and by no means antisemitic!).

I thought that the plot was too thin to sustain a 90-minute film. The actors were excellent and made the most out of it, but overall I didn't learn anything new about the Israeli-Palestinian-conflict -- or in fact, anything at all. The sweltering conflict would warrant a movie which gives us a new perspective even at the cost of balance, rather than putting us to bed with a fairy tale on the strength of human nature.

This is movie that exceeded my expectation. It's a comedy that sometimes makes you roll on the floor laughing. But beyond that it touches so well on a tabu subject. Not only that pigs cannot be eaten but they can't even touch the ground in Israel and Palestina. So what do you do when you find one? Definitely worth watching.

In this quite entertaining as well as very thought-provoking first feature film, Sylvain Estibal asks a question similar to the one the great French writer Montesquieu asked in his 1721 "Persian Letters": "How can one be Persian?". This time, being Persian is not the issue anymore. Estibal's more contemporaneous (but no less relevant) question is actually: "How can one be Palestinian... and survive?"

"Le cochon de Gaza" ("When Pigs Fly", in its English-speaking version) indeed revolves around a Palestinian, a local everyman named Jafaar, neither heroic nor radical, who lives hand-to-mouth as a fisherman. One day, he does a most unexpected catch : it is a pig he captures in his nets! So, what to do with such an animal insofar as it is considered unholy both by his Muslim co-religionists and by the Jewish occupier? Kill it? But it is easier said than done for someone like Jafaar who knows no violence! Sell it to someone of the U.N. forces ? But who the hell buys a living pig? Sell it to his Palestinian brothers? He cannot even think about that! Sell it to the Israeli? Not as easy as pie! Eventually, as Sylvain Estibal (who wrote and directed) votes for optimism rather than tragedy, everything comes right, but not without many tribulations involved by hiding the pig from all, including Jafaar's no-nonsense wife, Israeli military and police forces and (to no avail) from Palestinian fundamentalists...

In between, the imaginative Estibal will have managed to develop many a funny episode (the fledgling rapprochement between Jafaar's wife and the Israeli soldier made possible by the soap opera they both watch on TV; Jafaar as an unwilling martyr, ...) and found a few irresistible gags (the pornographic photos of scantily clad she-pigs meant to arouse Jafaar's pig sexually; the pig disguised as a sheep,... ) while documenting at the same time what everyday life in Palestine is like and delivering a sensible message of tolerance to the feuding brothers.

A serious film that does not take itself seriously, "Le cochon de Gaza" is a breath of fresh air in the polluted atmosphere of the never- ending Israeli-Palestinian confrontation. Much of the impact of this pleasing philosophical tale lies on the shoulders of the marvelous Sasson Gabai (already admirable in "The Band's Visit"), a consummate actor who , like a Middle East Charlie Chaplin, gives the character of Jafaar all his lightweight humanity. Thanks to Gabai, Jafaar is at once himself, a poor creature all the others are against but who never despairs and always tries to get by, and a funny and dignified representative of all those who suffer on this planet and struggle for survival.

Sylvain Estibal, on his part, proves a good filmmaker, and he manages to reproduce the atmosphere prevailing in Gaza with faithful fidelity, a fidelity all the more remarkable as the film was , for obvious reasons, not shot on the spot. This is Malta, not Gaza, but you would never realize it if you were not told in advance (sorry for letting the cat out of the bag!). The comic episodes follow at a good pace except at the very end, as where the momentum (along with the pleasure of the viewer) diminishes a little. Too bad the writer-director did not find as brilliant a conclusion to this excellent cruel tale as its introduction and development.

But this is only a slight disappointment. All in all, "Le cochon de Gaza" is a superior comedy with an edge. Don't overlook this good example of intelligent entertainment. And to the question: "How can one be Palestinian... and survive?", Sylvain Estibal's answer is invigorating: "Yes, one can". For, where there is life there is hope. Everywhere and in the worst conditions.

An English-Arabic-Hebrew language movie from a debuntant French director which unfolds the story of an unwealthy Gazan and his incredible adventure. The most sensitive issue was told in very enjoyable comical style, it might be Israel and Palestine or Islam-Jewish and pig. One of a rare movie, which was smartly made and will be better than you expect.

The story of a poor fisherman from Gaza who end up of having a pig in his net during fishing. The animal is a bad omen according to his religion which forbids to sight. He takes advice from his friend who instruct to kill it, but for his soft-heartedness he let it live. Soon or later everyone around him going to find it so he need to send it from where it came. Those his adventures become our great entertainment throughout.

Like I said very interesting material used for this story with gentle characters. The opening is undoubtedly sweeps our attention completely with fine character and story developments. But in the middle kind of little muddles without much happening in the story, more like everything were paused at once. And again hurried last portion hits like a lightening pace till the end.

As per the final scene a sequel can be expected. I will be happy if the director had a plan for that because the character Jafaar is the reason. Kind of Wes Anderson style presentation, I said a little especially on the humorous side. A good movie to choose for purely entertainment purpose for its diverged elements.

Watching a movie like this when every day the bulletin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is tragically updated makes a weird effect, but the farcical facade of the story does not hide the tragedy of what has been going on in the Gaza strip for decades. So, it is impossible to deny the amusing side of a movie which really makes laugh, with moments of authentic humour, on the other hand the movie leaves also much to think about the absurdity of a never-ending struggle, without hurting anyone, but mainly siding with the weakest, those who neither win or lose, those who simply come under the conflict and suffer. So, no need to feel guilty for laughing, the drama is always there, to remind us the horror we hear and see in the news every day, but together with ordinary people's will to feel alive and free. Great acting by the whole cast, especially by Sasson Gabay interpreting Jafaar, full of passionate and realistic humanity, and for whom we cannot but feel empathy.