Jaffa

Leftist Israelis make up this fantasies. They invent a fake reality of Arab - Israeli love and understanding. In this respect this movie is just like the the "Egyptian Band".

In reality in Jaffa nobody calls Israeli Arabs "Palestinians" both Jews and Arabs refer to them as "Arabs".

The marriages between Arabs and Jews are rare, and only extremely rare survive beyond just a few years.

The hope that this movie is trying to instill in the hearts of the naive viewers is false.

In summary: a tragic waste of talent to make such a false movie.

For once let's just separate the politics from the movie reviews for once when reviewing titles from anywhere in the middle east or war zones. This is a typical love story as they are made all over the world and.... boy is it worth watching.

When the spoiled and jealous son of Reuvens body shop/garage provokes one of the mechanics Toufik one time to many all lives involved are forced to change. Toufik and the daughter of the owner Mali have their own secrets and over time things can no longer be hidden.

It's a solid love story, drama. Well acted, well done. No big political issues or statements here. Just a very solid drama, well told, well acted with likable characters. Thats good enough already without political statement.

Jaffa, an Israeli film whose title refers to a part of Tel Aviv, is an excellent and moving drama. I wish movies like this got more press and had more fame. The story is sad, realistic and compelling.

The movie begins in the family owned garage of an Israeli family, where father, son Meir, and daughter Mali, work alongside a young Palestinian named Toufik. Meir is not the model son- rebellious, angry, ungrateful and disrespectful towards his parents and everybody else, he steals the attention from his quiet younger sister. No one suspects that she is having a love affair with Toufik and that they are secretly planning on getting married.

Religious and other tensions start building between the two young men, Meir and Toufik, and the outcome is shocking and devastating. Mali makes an extremely difficult sacrifice, depriving herself of a normal life by keeping hidden a truth which only she knows.

All of the actors are magnificent. The father is particularly memorable, always kind, trying at times to be a little bit stern, understanding of everyone throughout the film until his final, harsh condemnation. The ending is extremely powerful- completely unexpected and expected at the same time. Mali finally makes a choice for herself and we are left hoping that her life will be a happy one.

This film brought me to tears on several occasions. I watched it without Fabio as I wasn't sure what to expect and now highly recommend it to him and all of my readers.

My rating: 9/10 Please visit http://paulinasmovies.blogspot.com and become a follower to read more reviews!

If you ever thought dysfunctional families are only the stuff that American films are made of...guess again. 'Jaffa' is a sad tale of just such a dysfunctional family living in one of the oldest continuing sea port towns in Isreal,dating back to the Bronze age. It tells the story of the Wolf family. Reuven,the father of the brood,owns & operates a small garage that employs his son,Meir,a young man with a chip on his shoulder that's the size of the middle east,his daughter,Mali,who seems to be the invisible member of the family,Tawfig,an Arab,who is in love with Mali,and Tawfig's father. Osnat,who is the Mother of Meir & Mali,who is something of a control fanatic,runs the household with an iron hand. Meir harbors a bitter resentment to having to work in the garage,when he would rather just sit around,smoke cigarettes & drink coffee,as well as a hatred of Tawfig,and all Arabs in general. He is constantly arguing with his family & is always spoiling for a fight. When he picks a fight with Tawfig,and is accidentally killed in that fight,Tawfig ends up doing a nine year stretch in prison. Mali discovers she is three months pregnant with Tawfig's baby,and attempts to get an abortion. What transpires from here on is what the director calls an homage to Egyptian cinema (the plot line,or at least elements of it surely seems to be lifted from one of Oum Kalsoum's songs). Many hidden secrets are revealed,as well as tears shed. Keren Yedaya ('Or') directs & co writes the screenplay (with Ilia Ben Porat),with a flair for the occasional sojourn into soapsuds. Dana Ivgy is Mali,who turns in a bravura acting job. Ronit Elkabetz is her controlling mother,Osnat,in a role that just smacks of "not nice person". Moni Moshonov is Reuven, a brow beaten man who has had most of the man beaten out of him by his shrewish wife,Osnat,and who just shrugs his way thru life. Roy Assaf absolutely drips with contempt as Mali's younger brother,Meir,and Mahmoud Shalaby plays Mali's love interest,Tawfig. The rest of the splendid cast is rounded out by Hussein Yassin Mahajneh,Lily Ivgy, Zenabh Mahrab & Dalya Beger. If you enjoy a well written,directed & acted drama,look no further. Spoken in Hebrew & Arabic with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA,this film contains outbursts of crude language,intimations of adult content (but nothing graphically depicted on screen),and a moment of sudden,bloody violence

The realism. The complexity of the plot and in spite of the complexity, the movie had good integrity. Amazing acting. Sat through rooted to my seat as if I was watching a thriller and I can't even remember which thriller. The love. Most of the characters are very mature and portray largeness of heart. Inspite, there are certain differences that you just can't break. These get built into the psyche purely based on your circumstance. The racial hostility between a jew and an arab makes sense to a jew and an arab but not to an Indian. The actors. There were so many actors who have done excellent excellent work. The Arab, the nonchalance with which he performs, he almost looks like he strayed into the camera field without knowing. The way he comes out of jail and his expression changes as he sees his brothers. None of the theatrics, just a smile. The father has done a great job. The mother. The sister. The brother - every one. To me, there is no actor in the movie except may be the Arab's mother and sister. The direction is excellent too. I think most of the movie is shot in low lighting. The setting is also very dry. The movie felt so real, It could pass off as a documentary.However, there were challenging shots for actors to perform too. It was great story telling - uncomplicated technique. The viewer is given full time to appreciate the situation. It is not like those Hollywood movies where one wacky dialogue you miss , you miss the plot and then you go back and admire - oh what a tricky way to convey. Nonsense. This one was direct. Dil Se. You can feel the warmth of the relationships in spite of the fact that no elaborate situation has been built artificially to convey this