Movie Review: When two worlds collide

'For my Father' brings together a suicide bomber and Jewess but despite intentions, doesn't hit the mark.

By HANNAH BROWN
for my father movie 224 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
for my father movie 224 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
FOR MY FATHER 3 stars Directed by Dror Zahavi. Written by Ido Dror and Jonathan Dror. Hebrew title: Sof Shavua B'Tel Aviv. 102 minutes. Hebrew and Arabic, with Hebrew titles Sometimes a movie is well made, intelligently conceived and acted, but falls short of its ambitions; that's the case with For My Father. It's a good film that frustrates because it had the potential to be great. It has a challenging premise: A would-be suicide bomber from the West Bank gets stuck in a run-down Tel Aviv neighborhood when his explosive charge doesn't detonate and he ends up befriending the residents. It's a kind of mirror image of Paradise Now, in which the Palestinian bombers had virtually no contact with or knowledge of the Israelis they intended to kill. But a movie like this must be seamlessly executed and extremely compelling to get over the fundamental improbability of its premise. The filmmakers here try very hard, but their earnestness and eagerness to please everyone ends up watering down the movie's intensity. The movie is entertaining and even, at times, suspenseful, but it won't stay with you long after you've seen it, as a really provocative film on this topic might. The movie starts with parallel stories. In Tulkarm, Tarek (Shredi Jabarin), is recruited by the Tanzim to carry out a bombing in Tel Aviv. Expressing no reservations, he agrees, and two men, who argue behind his back about whether he is trustworthy, take him across the Green Line. In Tel Aviv, he wanders through the Carmel Market, stopping to watch Yisrael Aharoni giving a cooking demonstration (it isn't clear whether we are meant to find this amusing or absurd), looking for the right spot to end his life, and the lives of all those around him. Meanwhile, Katz (Shlomo Vishinski), an elderly hardware store owner who lives not far away, is feuding with one of his neighbors in a friendly fight that has been going on for longer than either of them can remember. Keren (Hili Yalon), a pretty young woman who runs the kiosk across the street, is just opening up shop and gets a visit from someone from her past, a young ultra-Orthodox man (Michael Moshonov), who threatens to vandalize the store unless she comes back to her religious family. When Tarek goes to Katz's store to order a new part for his explosives (without telling the man why he needs it, of course), he is told that since it is Friday, the part won't arrive till Sunday: Welcome to Israel. Tarek, who is mistaken for a construction worker wherever he goes in Tel Aviv, then sees the ultra-Orthodox man harassing Keren and helps her, chasing the man away. Forced to sit out the weekend in this neighborhood as he waits for the new electrical component to arrive, he begins a romantic friendship, fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, with Keren. Katz, who, along with his more sensitive wife, Zipora (Rozina Cambos), still mourn the death of their only son, a soldier, in a training accident, invite him to Friday-night dinner and become instant parental figures to him. When a man from Tarek's past, a soccer coach who thought he had the potential to be a star, arrives by chance (a coincidence that is the most improbable twist in a story filled with them), Tarek's backstory is revealed. His motivation for wanting to carry out a suicide bombing becomes clear at last. The actors work well together and each character is impeccably cast. Shredi Jabarin is especially good as the reluctant bomber who sets the story in motion. He had small roles in The Bubble and Free Zone, but this should be his breakthrough part. Hili Yalon, another newcomer, gives an appealing performance as Keren, and veterans Shlomo Vishinski and Rozina Cambos are charming in roles that border on stereotype. The actors bring their characters to life, but the script doesn't quite know what to do with them. While it's all at least technically believable, the can't-we-all-just-get-along aspect of the story begins to weigh more heavily, as the Sunday morning deadline for getting the needed part looms. The script paints the characters into a dramatic corner and there is no way for them to get out of it without getting very messy, but mess is just what director Dror Zahavi seems to want to avoid. He goes out of his way to portray all the characters (except the ultra-Orthodox guy) as likable and reasonable. It's as if he picked a difficult topic, realized the offense he could cause to both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and then froze. Yes, sometimes under certain circumstances, we can all just get along, but he doesn't address the passion, hatred and commitment that drives some Israelis and Palestinians to make the decisions they do. In spite of fine acting and good intentions, For My Father doesn't quite hit the mark.