Le chanteur de Gaza

The beautiful, moving story of Mohammad Assaf told in a very feel-good manner. The movie follows the same formula you might see in similar movies made in Hollywood, however context is important in this case: just as Mohammad Assaf gave Palestine a reason to celebrate, to feel proud of their nation, the movie does the same. It's a change of narrative, a chance to uplift and inspire. The strongest parts are the relationship between young Mohammad and her sister, and seeing them run and bike around the state, just letting the audience take in the setting. Crossing the border and eventually getting the audition were also strong, thrilling parts. Tawfeek Barhom does a decent to good job as grown-up Mohammad, but the Idol parts get a little awkward and Tawfeek is rather poorly edited into the screen singing. There was certainly a struggle there. Despite that though, I found myself moved.

I want to like this movie. It's got heart and a certain charm even if it coasts on that for too long.

It's quite disorientating how we jump in time from the childhood to the present, to some extent leaving the first half of the movie somewhat irrelevant to its actual plot except to just lay thematic groundwork.

In that respect it's also lacking. A big part of it seems to be the desperation to get out of Gaza and the struggle of living there but I never really got any impression of it being a particularly bad place to live, minus its lack of healthcare subsidizations. I enjoyed watching these kids fight against all odds in trying to be musicians but unfortunately that is not what this movie is ultimately about.

When you have a cute little girl in your main cast I make some concessions but losing your best character half way through is a bit of a blow. It's really just a manufactured way of trying to touch emotional buttons but it is as crass as the real reality shows that this is about.

When we do move in time, there is again, very little groundwork really laid and I struggled to adjust to this new actor as the character I was already familiar with, more due to the pacing rather than anything wrong with the actor though.

More manufactured conflict comes from this devout friend who works at border control which had very little build up to an underdeveloped character that again resolves way too easily. There really aren't high stakes in this movie and its hard to get excited by the end now the charming, childhood in semi-quasi-poverty is over.

I did not watch this is one setting and also, bizarly, the movie goes on for like 20 minutes even when all meaningful conflict has been resolved.

It's a true (though embellished) story of how one person's struggle to make something of their talent despite the struggles of war that after the fact became somewhat of the cultural icon, but that aspect of the narrative is kind of tacked on.

Some excellent music though.I must get into Arab pop, I don't know why I haven't yet.

The movies shows us how Mohammed becomes one of the most influential singers in the Arabic world. Apart from this point, nothing else special. This is a movie so when I watched it, I was hoping to see sth more. For example, how hard it was for Mohammed to achieve his goal. Selling grilled fish to buy instruments he needed was a good starting point, then I need to see more. If you want people to like your characters you create, you need more stories about them. Also more about traits/personalities, and characters' inner world. It was a good point to show us his inner struggle after he became famous few minutes before the movie ended. There should be more scenes like that.

I do love a good heartfelt true story, and this was right up my alley. I was hooked from the start and felt really bad for the sister, who would have had to have been the best actor in the movie (the main character as a boy had to be the worst I thought). The missed a trick however when they didn't really refer back to her in the Idol run.

The movie however was not without it's flaws. The splicing in of the Arab Idol took away from the emotion at the end of the movie and put a dampener on the movies end.

This however was only a minor detail as in overall terms this was a good movie which shows how reality shows can actually be important things for certain peoples.

This is a beautifully made movie highlighting parts of Mohammed Assaf's life, that give us a feel of where he's from, his childhood in Gaza, his talent for music and where he finally got to. It is a fantastic movie, that will touch your heart and make you fall in love with the humble young man who really changed his life around, and you can still see the modesty and humility behind his smile. This movie will take you on the journey of Assaf's life, right from his childhood growing up through the harshness of war, saving money to accomplish his dreams and his beautiful relationship with his family. This movie will make you laugh, cry, and feel so happy and proud of Assaf's accomplishments, whether you're Palestinian or from another part of the world. A MUST watch.