Description
An Oscar nominee this year for Best Foreign Language Film, this powerful crime drama from Israel is set in Jaffa, a mostly Arab city south of Tel Aviv, and a melting pot of cultures and conflicts among Jews, Muslims and Christians. These “mean streets” are depicted through intersecting stories, from a young Israeli (Shahir Kabaha) fighting a criminal vendetta and a Palestinian refugee (Ibrahim Frege) trying to finance a life-saving surgery, to a Jewish detective (Eran Naim) obsessed with finding his missing brother and an affuent Palestinian (Scandar Copti) dreaming of a future with his Jewish girlfriend. Co-written and directed by Scandar Copti, an Israeli Arab, and Yaron Shani, who is Jewish, Ajami (according to A.O. Scott of The New York Times) “…is acutely insightful about the social divisions within Israel, but it examines them without scolding or sentimentality.” In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. Writers/Directors: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani. (Israel 2009) 120 min.
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