a film by Eytan Fox
2006 | 117 mins | Israel
Ohad Knoller .... Noam
Yousef 'Joe' Sweid .... Ashraf
Daniella Wircer .... Lulu
Alon Freidmann .... Yali
Zohar Liba .... Golan
Zion Baruch .... Shaul
Ruba Blal ... Rana, Ashraf's Sister
Oded Leopold .... Sharon
Shredy Jabarin .... Jihad
Yael Zafrir .... Orna
Noa Barkai .... Ella
Yotam Ishay .... Chiki
Eliana Bekiyer .... Dalfi
Avital Barak .... Dana
Lior Ashkenazi .... Himself
Yossi Marshak .... Himself
/ Actors in BENT
The Bubble
a poignant gay love story that illustrates
the endemic tensions of the Israeli
/ Palestine conflict
Screened in Great Britain as part of the
21st London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
- 25 March 2007
Available on DVD as part of the
TLA Releasing UK catalogue
www.tlareleasing.co.uk
AWARDS
Berlin International Film Festival
2007 - Winner CICAE Award
2007 - Winner Reader
Jury of the Siegessaule
Durban International Film Festival
2007 - Winner Best Screenplay
Eytan Fox and Gal Uchovsky
Outfest, Los Angeles
Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
2007 - Winner Special Programming
Committee Award for Outstanding
Dramatic Feature
Torino Int'l Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
2007 - Winner Audience Award
Toronto Inside Out
Lesbian & Gay Film and Video Festival
2007 - Winner Audience Award
Israeli Film Academy
2006 Nominations for Best Music, Best
Sound and Best Supporting Actor
- Yousef 'Joe' Sweid
|
|
It was somewhat inevitable that at some point noted indie writer and director Eytan Fox would
comment on troubling times close to home. Well in this multi-layered work that contrasts
love with hatred, he does so in strikingly poignant fashion.
For returning to civilian life after the final days of checkpoint duty saw him rush to the aid
of a woman about to give birth, ex soldier Noam is soon to greet Ashraf, a Palestinian man
captivated by 'the one' he saw on border patrol that day and who now turns up in Tel Aviv with
Noam's lost ID card. Well aware of the political implications of their friendship, the two
nevertheless become lovers in no time at all, as Noam introduces Ashraf to his liberal minded
flatmates and inparticular politically active war opponent Lulu and openly gay café
manager Yali, a place where Ashraf is to find work, albeit under a Hebrew name so as to mask
his true identity and illegal status. As days turn into weeks, all is well in their seemingly
trouble free life, until that is the sound of ingrained prejudice together with the call
of his sister's wedding prompts Ashraf to return home and a border divide
that is to set in motion a shocking chain of events.
Laden with a plea for peace and compassion, Eytan Fox has created yet another engaging gay love
story. Only in this instance, such is undercut with the reality of the times delivered not by
way of the political pulpit, rather in terms of the tense opening checkpoint scene coupled
with the films' dramatic closing sequence set as pivotal moments, in order to illustrate
the endemic tensions of the Israeli / Palestine conflict.
In between such, Fox is more than happy to let the spotlight fall on Noam and Ashraf's intense
love for each other, just as he equally takes time to highlight Yali's deep friendship with
his macho boyfriend Golan and Lulu's turbulent relationship with the press, in the form of
the Israeli editor of TIME OUT magazine. Only just when you get to thinking that this is
but a sweet love story set against the backdrop of war, Fox pulls the romantic carpet
from out below your feet to deliver a heart-rending reality check.
Well acted, staged and directed throughout and co-written with Gal Uchovsky, this is a
thought-provoking work under the guise of romantic entertainment, one that strikes out with the
forbidden relationship between an Israeli and a Palestinian, only to up the stakes by
presenting it in terms of a homosexual bond. Yet this is not a two man show, or even a four
character one, but it is one in which the relationship between Yousef 'Joe' Sweid as Ashraf
and YOSSI & JAGGER star Ohad Knoller as Noam plays heavily on a key moment
borrowed from Martin Sherman's BENT.
That the four central characters want to 'rave against the occupation' is clear and yet in
fiction, as in real life, events have a way of hitting home with major consequences. For this
moving work is more than just a gay love story, having burst its romantic bubble to showcase
the fragile hope for peace in lands that as we are all only too well aware, are to this
day overflowing with the blood of retaliatory warfare. All of which makes this
a powerful cinematic indictment on an increasingly volatile situation.
|
