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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/58700/full/58700/crude-family-acts-out-israeli-arab-discord-on-home-turf/ <br /><br /> <b>Crude family acts out Israeli-Arab discord on home turf</b> <br /> Thursday, July 22, 2010 | by michael fox <br /><br /><p>Israeli filmmaker Keren Yedaya’s latest bruising drama, “Jaffa,” unfolds in the same roiling metropolis of Jews and Arabs as the Academy Award- nominated “Ajami.” Both outstanding films, but in distinct ways, neither is likely to be embraced by the city’s tourism office anytime soon.</p> <p>Yedaya’s 2004 debut feature, “Or,” was a harrowing and not easily forgotten saga of a prostitute and her daughter. “Jaffa” likewise focuses on working-class people in the service sector who get no respect in everyday life — though one gets the impression that the film’s depiction of metastasized cowardice is meant to cut across all strata of Israeli society.</p> <p>A 104-minute film in Hebrew with English subtitles, “Jaffa” screens four times in the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which begins its 17-day run on Saturday, July 24.</p> <p> <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="artsfilm" class="left" height="221" src="http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/y_photos_2010/x07_23_10/artsfilm.jpg" title="Mali (Dana Ivgy) is an Israeli who falls in love with an Arab in “Jaffa.” photo/courtesy sfjff" width="360" /> <div class="caption">Mali (Dana Ivgy) is an Israeli who falls in love with an Arab in “Jaffa.” photo/courtesy sfjff</div> </div> Shot in a palette of grimy greens and blacks, “Jaffa” spins outward from a small, family-run car repair shop. The graying owner, Reuven Wolf (Moni Moshonov, seen in a more vulnerable light in another festival selection, “Mrs. Moscowitz and the Cats”), delegates a good deal of the responsibility to his bitter, short-tempered son (and presumed heir) Meir and diligent, subservient daughter Mali.</p> <p>The real work is done by a pair of Israeli Arabs, however. The older man, Hassan, presumably has been with Reuven forever, while his son Toufik (Mahmud Shalaby) is the shop’s most valuable employee. The Jews may own the business, but the powerless Arabs deserve most of the credit for its continued existence.</p> <p>The Wolf kids still live at home with Reuven and Ossi (Ronit Elkabetz), their feral and breathtakingly selfish mother. It’s a nasty household, where no one ever says “please” or “thank you.” The Wolfs may be uncultured and incurious, but above all they are uncivil.</p> <p>The few glimpses we get of Hassan and Toufik’s family, in contrast, are imbued with warmth and respect. They aren’t onscreen enough, however, to tilt “Jaffa” into a parable of bad Jews and good Arabs. Frankly, for three of the four Wolfs, Arabs register peripherally or not at all.</p> <p>Mali (Dana Ivgy, in a wrenchingly internalized performance), who emerges as the movie’s central character, knows how to stay out of the family crossfire and under the radar, so much so that her parents take her for granted. They barely look at her, and are clueless that she and Toufik are in love and about to elope.</p> <p>A dramatic but not unforeseen incident derails those plans, leaving a pregnant Mali to make crucial decisions without the compassionate advice and guidance that even halfway decent parents would provide.</p> <p>The tragedy of “Jaffa” is that none of the Jewish characters takes any responsibility for either their words or behavior. Privileged and oblivious, yet invariably seeing themselves as the victims, they bring harm on themselves while pointing fingers elsewhere. It is not stupidity or incompetence or a lack of sophistication that plague the Wolfs, but raw cowardice.</p> <p>As a portrait of a narrow-minded family that eats its young, as well as a metaphor for Israel’s suspicious, self-destructive attitude toward its Arab citizens, “Jaffa” is powerful and damning.</p> <p><strong><br />The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival</strong> runs from Saturday, July 24 through Aug. 9. Information: <a href="http://www.sfjff.org">http://www.sfjff.org</a>.</p>

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