The Band's Visit

We head to the Israel in the movie “The Bands Visit”. This movie follows an Egyptian Police band as it tries to find its way to an initiation ceremony, in which they were invited to play at. Coming from Egypt the band finds itself in trouble as it is abandon at the airport. This is the begging of their troubles. The band finally gets a bus, but mispronounces the town and heads in the wrong direction and they find themselves in a tiny Israeli community in the middle of the desert. Friction between locals and the band seem likely because of different cultures present but is not the case. The town takes them in and embraces them. This is a story of encounters between people, encounters between cultures and coming together of different people.

“The Band’s Visit” is a movie that the plot really plays second fiddle to the characters. In this movie you really focus on what the characters are about and what their story is. The bands struggle to get the initiation ceremony is really secondary. We focus on mostly three characters. The head chief conductor of the band is Tawfig. Tawfig is a very meticulous and has a restrained personality. He is very professional and we later find out he has a painful personal story. Our second character is Dina. Dina is the owner of a small restaurant who takes the band in and encourages other citizens they should do the same. Dina has lightness to her personality and a positive joy. She also seems vulnerable at times with certain loneliness. She is attracted to Tawfig and what underlies beneath his closed shelled personality. Our third character is Haled. Haled is the youngest member of the band. He seems to not be enjoying himself as part of the band. He seems to want to do other things and be free from the band. Haled seems out of place with the band and wants to venture out and meet girls and have fun.

The movie gets through to its viewers a bigger idea than the plot offers through its revealing of its characters. The movie shows that no matter what cultural back ground, people share many similarities. Hopes, dreams, and personal struggles are really universal. “The Bands Visit” shows people that its possible for certain cultures to get along regardless of historical past.

The movie’s underlying factor is the Arab- Israeli conflict. These people have been in conflict for many years. In the 20th century the Arabs have initiated four wars with Israel. So you can understand that in the movie the citizens of the tiny Israeli town were not ready to accept their new visitors at first.

I believe the movie “The Band’s Visit” is not only an entertaining movie but also educational. Many different educational aspects are shown in the film. Landscapes are show which give the viewer mental image of the area. Pop cultures such as music and night life are shown, which lets us know of similarities we might have with the area. Also we get to see the “big picture”, which is ability of peoples of different cultures of war torn countries to actually find peace and commonality with one another.