2003-01-31-trumpet in the wadi

2003-01-31 Trumpet in the Wadi


Mix and Match in the Wadi San Diego Jewish Press-Heritage, January 31, 2003

Trumpet in the Wadi, Israel/U.S.A., 2001, BETA, 97 min., color, Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles. Directors: Lina Chaplin and Slava Chaplin.

By Sandi Masori

Before I begin, I want to say that this is a really good movie! It has everything; a love story, comedy, tragedy, even a little action. My husband and I laughed and cried.

The acting is great and the writing is fabulous. It is easy to become completely engrossed and emotionally involved in the story. You really feel for the predicaments of all the parties involved.

It manages to use the sociopolitical situation in Israel as a backdrop for the story, without getting into right and wrong —something not easily done in such a heated arena. There is something for everyone as this movie manages to transcend race, religion and gender and reach the person in each of us.

My Israeli husband and I rarely like the same movies, but this one we wholeheartedly agreed was fantastic.

It opens with scenes from Israel— not necessarily the type of things that a tourist would recognize as Israel, but definitely those that anyone who has lived there would recognize. In fact, it puts you so into a mood of "yes, that's Israel, all right," that when the first word is spoken, it takes a while for it to sink in that it's Arabic, not Hebrew, that you are listening
to under the English subtitles.

There are two stories going on. The first is the main story of a love affair between Huda, an Israeli Arab, and Alex, a new immigrant from Russia. The second is that of Mary, Huda's sister, and Wahid, who is courting her.

The movie is set in Haifa, but it could easily be Jaffa or any other city where Jews and Arabs live side by side. Alex moves into the apartment above Huda and Mary's family. It's easy, as a former olah hadasha from America myself, to imagine a new immigrant moving into an all-Arab neighborhood.

It's easy to understand his confusion at the way Alex has to work for acceptance. To him, coming from Russia, it's just a cheap place to live, and people are people.

The irony of the situation is that the Arabs constantly refer to him as "the Jew" when he has little connection to being Jewish. He only moved to Israel for the sake of his aging mother.

Mary is not exactly the virgin that a proper unmarried Arab girl is expected be, and in fact her as-yet undetected pregnancy has made her quest for a husband urgent. Her suitor, Wahid, is a really nice guy who doesn¹t want a dowry, he only wants Mary. He is also very traditional, and Mary has to work hard at getting him to take her to bed so that he later will believe he is
the father.

It is also Mary's indiscretions that bring Alex into Huda's family life. One of her boyfriends, Zohir, whom she does not want to marry, learns that Wahid has come to ask for her hand. He starts banging on the door of their house and shouting uncontrollably. The family tries to ignore it, but his behavior brings shame to the family. Alex saves the day by coming down and telling
him to go away. The boyfriend is not happy at being told to go away, and they get into a fight, which Alex wins.

The police come, and Alex, being Jewish, gets a slap on the wrist. He chooses not to press charges against Zohir, because Zohir is the landlord's son, and, as he puts it, Alex is not stupid.

Zohir's behavior puts Huda's family in the awkward position of owing Alex a debt of gratitude. In spite of themselves, they start to like him.

The four lovebirds plan a romantic get away, and Mary arranges for herself and Alex to switch rooms so that the couples are rooming together instead of in same-sex pairs. The weekend is successful for all concerned, but upon returning home, everyone's loyalties are tested. One of Huda and Mary's cousins has been killed while protesting in one of the territories. Huda¹s
mother tells Alex to get out of her house— he is a Jew, after all. Huda's grandfather is more understanding and says that they can get married, but that they should wait for a little while.

What ensues from there is full of irony. I won¹t go into any more detail, except to say that the ending is a bit of a surprise. See this movie. You will not regret it.

• Trumpet in the Wadi will be presented by the San Diego Jewish Film Festival at noon Thursday, Feb. 13, at the AMC La Jolla, and at 1 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 16, at the Madstone Hazard Center.