FILM REVIEW: West Bank Story a live-action short film (2007)
Published in The POST May 17, 2007 Directed by: Ari Sandel Written by: Kim Ray and Ari Sandel Duration: 21 Minutes (An official selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival) The Middle East is better known for staging violent uprisings, certainly not for inspiring comedic masterpieces. Since 1967, the West bank has spawned a surge in Arab hostility, frequent visits to the Middle East by Condoleezza Rice and lately, a small little inspirational musical comedy about competing falafel stands, directed, co-written and produced by Ari Sandel (part Israeli, part American Californian native). Since there is no easy way to represent both sides fairly, the very notion of West Bank Story is greeted with a justifiable mix of scepticism, wariness and resentment at first. No doubt, it is a precarious balancing act that mandates such a film to be witty without being offensive, show compassion without discrimination and entertain without losing substance. So does West Bank Story deliver? ...