The Band's Visit

I remember, as a kid, trekking barefoot through muddy trails. Sometimes it was hard work, and my feet got a bit stuck every now and again. But when I got to the other side, my toes felt cleaner and my spirit was happier. The movie The Band’s Visit reminded me of this slow progress with a reward at the end.
The Band’s Visit is an Israeli film about an Egyptian orchestra that gets lost in the middle of nowhere, Israel. I absolutely loved it – it’s now one of my favourite movies. The characters speak, by turns, Arabic, Hebrew, and English (though the whole film is subtitled). I found it to be a fascinating look at cultural undertones, chance encounters, and the nature of love.
The movie follows several main characters through their several stories: one orchestra member spends the night with an Israeli man whose marriage is going downhill, one goes on a date with an Israeli restaurant owner, one spends the evening at a roller rink. None of the stories are developed beyond the events of that night – but none need to be. The orchestra meet the Israelis for less than twenty-four hours, touch each other’s lives, and leave.
The movie is filled with fleeting moments of depth, when one character speaks unmistakable truth into another’s life. While these moments may be few and far between, as they are in life, they are well worth catching hold of. I plan on buying the movie when it comes out, not for its plot, not for its action, not even for its beautifully melancholy and lonely characters, but for the instants of insight that I want to watch again and again, and that I want to share with my friends.