Metallic Blues

Shmuel Goldberg, an Israeli car dealer, 2nd-generation of holocaust victims, and Siso, his partner, visit Germany on a trip combining business and pleasure.

They try to sell a potentially expensive car, cataloged at 50,000 Euro. This movie describes their journey, which both explores Israeli vs. European/German culture and 2nd-hand experience of the holocaust from a number of angles.

An average plus movie, a bit boring, not enough drama, not enough wit. There is a message that passes through quite well and in a not too forced way, but though the basic idea of the movie is excellent, the outcome is a bit too anticipated.

It's a 2004 film & i only get to see it tonight ( 10th September 2009) in conjunction with Israel- Film-Festival in Singapore. It is a film with poignant human emotions. Most of us know about how the Jews of Israel suffer under the Nazi-Germans during the Holocaust. If you and your ancestors have traumatic memories of the Holocaust, would you choose to go there to make a fortune or even migrate to Germany with your family for a better life? How would you think about the younger Germans there will interact with you? You may be surprised if you answer the questions with pre-conceived notions. It's not as straight-forward as a story about forgiveness, mercy & redemption. Do go for it with an open-mind if you happen to bump into its screening just as i do. I'm moved to tears as it make me realise that life's setbacks and unpredictable circumstances can point towards our shared humanity.

When you first read a synopsis of Metallic Blues, you think it is going to be a road picture comedy, but it is not a comedy. It's actually a tragedy focusing upon a man who is so influenced by history that it impedes his judgment.

The visuals in the film are impressive from the start. You see a Middle Eastern village where you might expect to see Jesus or Moses walking by but instead, you see a metallic blue 1985 Lincoln Continental limousine. The juxtaposition of images separated by over two-thousand years is a shocker.

A man enters the car and drives it to a local car dealer where he hopes to sell it. It seems that he has moved back from Canada and cannot afford the tax on the car. The dealership is manned by two. One appears to be the worker of the pair - keeping the cars clean and running. The other is a cookie cutter version of many auto salesmen to be found everywhere in the world. He is Shmuel, the apparent owner of the lot and has seen the same car in a German dealer's catalog priced at €50,000. He conferences with Siso, the worker of the pair, whose financial support he needs and convinces him to invest in the purchase of the car. In the typical car dealer fashion, Shmuel makes a deal to buy the car from the "ignorant Arab" for €5,000.

Siso's wife is very upset that he has taken family funds to finance the scheme. They have four children and were planning on using the money to convert a space in their small apartment in order to provide a room for their teenaged daughter.

Shmuel has a fine apartment with all the latest improvements and no children. The only conflict he meets concerning his part in the scheme is that his wife is upset that she can't go along to sell the car in Europe. Shumel doesn't disclose to his wife that he is traveling to Germany to sell the car. He is wary of her reaction because most of his family was murdered in concentration camps.

This is the first indication of the ultimate darkness of this film for it begins to change from a film about two unsophisticated guys in the big city to an examination of the psyche of a man who has been damaged by horrible events in his family's history even though they took place fifteen years before he was born.

Once the two get to Germany, events start off lightly but get worse and worse until the frightening climax of the film.

Of the reviews on this site, two are written by Israelis. Opposite in opinion, both are interesting to read in order to get an Israeli insight into this film. For me, it was an educating experience in some of the attitudes of persons of a Middle Eastern (not necessarily Jewish) mindset. One that stands out in my mind is when Shmuel and Siso are caught in a big traffic jam in Germany. They think that the Germans are crazy to sit and wait patiently. Shmuel derides them for not becoming angry and blowing their horns. Events such as this that take place through out make this film is a good lesson in the dangers of letting emotion overrule reason - a lesson good for anyone no matter where one lives.

Two Israeli car dealers believe they have it made when they buy a clean 1985 Lincoln Continental Limousine from an Arab recently arrived from Canada. They expect to get ten times more by reselling it in Germany. Ship the car by freight, fly to Germany and pick up the car at the docks. That's when the story begins in earnest.

The comedy part relies on two schmucks used to a rough and tumble working class existence traveling across a well organized and disciplined society. The learning experience for the two would-be nouveau riche provides a few good laughs, e.g. the wine ahead of beer sort of thing. The travails of selling the car are gradually overlapped by recollections of how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany. Comedy shifts to drama.

Though the film if sometimes formulaic, the story is well developed. Acting is spotty. Comic opportunities were missed; I would have expected some jokes about the limo and the expectation for a fully dressed chauffeur. Ultimately what retains our interest is the fate of the car.

Perhaps I could blame the playbill at the Philadelphia International Film Fest, but I was hoping for slightly more comedic angle to Dan Verete's film. Whereas the drama that is unveiled on certain events within is strong, and the characters of Sisso and Shmuel well written, the story became both predictable and bulky. Many of the comparisons between Israel and Germany had so much subtle humor that it is unfortunate that style of humor was ignored as their plot to unload the Lincoln limo rambled on without so much as a road map. Key parts of the story would have had such a richer element of drama to it if more humor was added - and at times such humor was almost begging to be entered. With METALLIC BLUES, Verete writes a different kind of road movie and even a different kind of a buddy movie. The film definitely captures that European feel to it - right down to the ending as a matter of fact. The film even nicely portrays the everyday lives of two Israeli men in the 21st Century without burdening this Gentile with insider Jewish "tsuris." Regrettably, the film suffers displaying the mediocrity of the situation when so many alternate cinematic paths could have resulted in a stronger story.