Le fils de l'autre

This is an excellent piece of cinema, treating of a very tricky and complex question with intelligence, sensibility and heart. Extremely well acted, the characters are full of warmth, and both sides in the end seem equally right. Of course, we wish the current conflict could be sorted with the same compassionate approach but sadly this would be naive. Still, the film gives a very hopeful message that one likes to believe in. I am just back from Israel and feel the atmosphere of the movie is very true and genuine. If only understanding each other's culture could be done in a similar heartfelt way.

Enjoy!

Baby switching error at hospital is the same motif with "Like Father, Like Son", but these movies have completely different viewpoints. In case of "Like Father, Like Son", as the wrongly switched children are still very young, the story is told from the parents viewpoint. The key question asked in the movie is: what makes the parent-child relationship true, under the biological relationship is denied. On the other hand, in case of "The Other Son", the wrongly switched children are already 18 years old, intelligent, tough-to-fudge youths. Furthermore, one is a Jew and the other is a Palestinian. Therefore, in this movie the story is told from both of parents' and children's viewpoints, more on the children's viewpoint. Thus, the title of the movie can be "The other parents" or "The other self" too.

In general, in the movies where a family faces an extraordinary problem, fathers are less reliable than mothers. In this movie too, the first reaction of the two fathers is to deny the fact. They try to think as if nothing happened. Mothers, however, immediately face the issue, share empathy with the other. Well, I am a man, but I have to agree with this development. The plot is simple. Both parents do not have complicated private background. Still, this is a heart-moving one. The most impressing scene for me was that Joshua suddenly sings at the dinner. Is it a Palestinian song?

"The Other Son" (2012 release from France/Israel; 105 min.) brings the story of 2 boys who are about to reach their 18th birthday. As the movie opens, we see Joseph applying to enlist at an elite unit of the Israeli Air Force, requiring him to do various medicals tests. It isn't long before his parents learn that Joseph's blood type (A+) is not compatible with theirs (A=). After some investigating, it becomes clear that two babies were switched accidentally at birth. The other 18 year old is Yacine, whose family lives in Palestine's West Bank. Joseph is devastated when he finds out about the mix-up at birth. But what about Yacine in Palestine? And how will their families react? And their friends? To tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: first, kudos to writer-director Lorraine Lévy for bringing us this movie. The plot is entirely believable, and Levy treats the subject matter with dignity and respect. As you can well imagine, this is a delicate topic and if not done properly, it will ruin the movie. When the impact of it all hits Joseph, he wonders "Am I still Jewish?". Even more importantly, this movie shows again that, when you put politics aside for a moment, at the end of the day we are dealing with real human beings. Watch how the Jewish and Palestine mothers deal with the news that the sons they have raised are not their own...

Bottom line: this movie should be required viewing for anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. No, "The Other Son" is NOT a political movie, but instead is a heartbreaking family drama with a political undercurrent. "The Other Son" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I'm surprised that there are only two reviews - now three - of this movie on IMDb. It got a very good review when it played up in Cleveland, and since I couldn't make the trip up there to see it, I waited and rented it from Netflix. It was worth the wait.

The situation is straight out of an early Shakespeare comedy: two babies are switched at birth by mistake in a maternity ward, such that a Jewish Israeli family raises a young Arab and a Palestinian family raises a young Jewish Israeli. Just short of their 18th birthdays, they learn the truth.

The first part of the movie deals with the reactions of the four parents. All four actors give truly moving, first-rate performances. The Jewish father is an officer in the Israeli army, someone who has spent his life fighting Arabs. Still, he is torn apart by what he perceives as the loss of his son. The Arab father doesn't know how to react: is he now harboring a hated Israeli in his own poor home? But he, too, loves his son very much, and cannot deal with the thought of losing him.

The two mothers also experience a feeling of loss, but are able to speak to each other in ways that the two fathers, for political reasons, cannot.

The son of the Jewish couple finds acceptance in the Palestinian family through a mutual love of music. It is less clear how the son of the Arab couple will fit in the Jewish family. Will Yacine be able to tolerate living with an Israeli army officer? How will his family deal with that? The movie, as I said, is based on a clichéd theatrical device, but there is nothing clichéd about the acting or the script here: it all seems very real, and often very intense. It never seems fake. Unlike what the other two reviews suggest, not everything is resolved here by the end of the movie. That would have been too pat, too American-TV.

I strongly recommend this movie. It's really well done.

Le fils de l'autre ! Simply to address the complaint of the first reviewer for seeing only two reviews for such a great work, I'll give it my five cents too! But I have to add there are 19 reviews before mine now!

I can't take any credit for having seen this wonderful story. I have a friend who, I think, on the account that I "was" French; often will pick French movies for our two couples to see at an independent theatre in Sydney.

And what a choice it was! I always been a fan of Emmanuelle Devos, and once more she was such a strong part of this movie. But as many reviewers have testified everyone else was also very good.

It is a very believable situation but also "poignante"; and you would have to be made of ice for not be emotionally involved with this 'semi' tragic story.

As the story line simply states: Two young men, one Israeli and one Palestinian, discover they were accidentally switched at birth ... For five cents you won't get more from me, but do yourself a favour, have a look at it.