'The Band's Visit' a light look at the Middle East

When you find out that Eran Kolirins' debut feature, "The Band's Visit," tells the story of an Egyptian band stranded in Israel, you may be tempted to say you already know what it's about: Oh, this is going to be a social commentary, with a pseudo-allegorical touch, on an Islamic group estranged in Israel and on the prejudice that they would have to endure. One would expect the movie to ask questions about what feelings one would have if thrown into such a situation: Madness? Aggravation? With all the hostilities now unfolding in the region, the tension of feeling out of place seems like a totally plausible subject matter to muse on. The intention of "The Band's Visit," however, is not to tackle any of these issues, but to reveal the similarities between Arabs and Israelis.

The movie begins with a visiting Egyptian police band stranded at an Israeli airport. Though it is scheduled to play at a ceremony the next day, it is forced to wait awkwardly in the airport. Frustrated and tired, the proud and stern police superintendent decides to take matters into his own hands, leading the crew onto a bus that they hope will bring them to their destination.

The bus, however, leaves the band members in the middle of a dusty, undulating desert. They come to a town that is far away from the bus station and has nothing but cheap community housing. This is definitely not the venue where they were supposed to wind up. Walking single file, with the superintendent at the head, they enter the relatively quiet and empty town. There they meet a kind and attractive coffee shop owner, who willingly puts them up for the night. The rest of the movie charts their (mis)adventures in the one-horse town.

The film's three main characters - the superintendent (Sasson Gabai), the storeowner (Ronit Elkabetz) and a rookie who is the smiting equivalent of a Middle-Eastern Casanova (Saleh Bakri) - come together as an unlikely nuclear family. The female storeowner flirts with the superintendent only to find a man scarred by his past and unable to reconcile his conflicting emotions. The rookie, however, is the exact opposite: He flirts with anything that wears a skirt, much to the chagrin of the superintendent.

The main charm of the movie comes from the band members themselves. Dressed in unimposing, powder-blue uniforms, this bunch of lost boys has a certain toy-soldier-like quality. In almost every scene, the band stands in single file, while ethnic Arabic music strums in the background, highlighting its origin and its conspicuous presence in Israel. The band, journeying across the empty town in its cute uniforms and varying physical appearances, produces an image reminiscent of a troop of toy soldiers dispatched in a child's sand pit, determined to complete an unknown mission, even though they are entirely forgotten by their masters. This imagery, apart from the awkward social situations the characters find themselves in, is unfortunately the only endearing quality of the movie.

Though there is potential for the movie to explore a political angle, its focus instead revolves entirely around the social relationships and the awkward circumstances the characters find themselves in. One memorable scene comes when the rookie teaches an Israeli guy how to hit on a girl at the skating rink. The hilarity surrounding this interaction is played to great effect. Even so, the movie does not attempt to explore these relationships in their entirety, as the characters remain one dimensional, and their interactions seem superficial.

The movie is wrought with extended silences, as if a huge awkward turtle has landed in the middle of Israel, and the characters have no idea how to react to it. Kolirins tries a bit too hard to narrate his movie in a Wes Andersonian fashion. The approach succeeds in manufacturing a limited gawkiness but fails entirely in presenting a substantial message. The end of the movie leaves viewers, poorer by seven dollars, missing an additional two hours of their lives and grasping for a non-existent core to find that the only solution is to shrug and leave the theater empty handed.

As the opening lines to the movie state, "Not many people remember this. It wasn't that important." No one is going to remember this movie; it really was not that important. But if you are up for some light chuckles with your date and do not want to watch the shocking "Funny Games," this movie a perfect, tailored fit.

Pros: Cute and awkward, the movie makes you laugh at its gawkiness and simplicity. Good study break movie.

Cons: Does not nourish any brain cells.

Paws: 3