Téléphone arabe

The movie Ish lelo selolari was shown in the US will the title "Man Without a Cell Phone" (2012). The film was co-written and directed by Sameh Zoabi

The movie stars Razi Shawahdeh as Jawdat, a Palestinian Israeli whose primary goal is to find beautiful women--Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. He's also working to learn Hebrew so he can enter a university where instruction is in Hebrew. He's much more casual about the second goal than the first.

His father is passionate as well, although in this case the passionate quest is to remove an Israeli-owned cell tower from the village. He's convinced that the radio waves from the cell tower will cause cancer. At least that's his outward reason for his opposition. It's very possible that he opposes the cell tower because it's Israeli-owned, and because it allows the young people in the village--including his son--to have easy communication with the world outside the village. These two plots move forward together, and bring about some truly humorous situations.

I was impressed that the film takes on the important task of depicting life from the Palestinian point of view. We saw this film at the Rochester Jewish Community Center, as part of the great Rochester Jewish Film Festival. My compliments to Festival Director Lori Harter, and to the JFF Festival Committee, for bringing us a movie that is told from the Palestinian perspective, but doesn't deal primarily with life-and-death matters of armed struggle, attack, and counter-attack.

This film is currently rated 6.9 on IMDb. It's better than that, and deserves to be seen. It will work well on DVD. Find it and watch it.

A hilarious handling of a situation involving a cell phone tower installation in olive farming village of Palestinian Israel, and the radiation fears that unite people to express their contempt. The youth of the village have their own ideas and priorities of life but they do chip in and make their presence felt on an issue which stirs up emotions leading to a climax that is to be seen to be enjoyed. A thoroughly enjoyable and heart warming film to the end. I love the way the director has given freedom to each character to shine in their part which adds up to a fine viewing experience.

A film that is rewarding in the exploration of the bonding and revival of the human spirit even in difficult circumstances. My rating ( 8.5 out of 10)