Caption: Ari Sandel, Noureen DeWulf and Ben Newmark.
ARI Sandel and the cast of his film West Bank Story arrive in Dubai with no expectations. But they better brace themselves up for some heated discussions what with the distinctive reactions their film has aroused in Dubai.
A musical comedy, West Bank Story has a never-before-attempted thread. It charts the love story of an Israeli soldier, David (Ben Newmark), and a Palestinian restaurant waitress, Fatima (Noureen DeWulf). But there is nothing breezy about the love affair in the face of the sheer hatred that surrounds them all captured in the backdrop of two restaurants, the Hummus Hut and Kosker King. A “wall” comes up between the two, and can love break the barriers? Can the hunger for food unite the warring people?
Sandel’s intention with the film was pretty simple: “I wanted to make people laugh and I wanted to make a film that was pro-peace, one that did not take sides.”
He isn’t aware of the Arab reaction — the Dubai screening is its first to a predominantly Middle Eastern audience — and as for those who thought it was frivolous or simplistic, his answer is: “It is a comedy and it needs to be simple to get where it had to be.”
Sandel says he tried hard to make sure that the film did not offend anybody and was fair to all. “For every joke on the Arabs, we had one on the Jews; for every nice moment of the Jews, we had one for Arabs… we strove to keep it balanced. It was very tricky but there never was any doubt that what we were creating was something pro-peace.”
Sandel made sure of not getting “super-political” with the 21-minute film shot over 14 days just outside of Los Angeles in a ranch. “The whole point of the film was that the moment you step out of the Middle East, Arabs and Jews live together, especially in the US.” He feels West Bank Story could be the first film to come out of America that shows Arabs “as witty and not angry. There are genuinely funny moments and that is what you need in cinema.”
The musical format of the film — an obvious tribute to the classic West Side Story — was the hook to the film, says Sandel. “I thought it would be funny to have the Arabs and Jews dancing together but I did not want the film to be a tragedy like West Side Story. But music indeed opened a door for lot more comedy.”
Sandel says the most difficult part of making the film was to keep it balanced. “Everything about the film has been carefully scrutinised, even the colours.” He therefore has an explanation for why everything in the film is the way it is. “It was especially tough to keep moving forward, not listening to what people were talking about the film and just following it through.”
Though the peace prescribed by cinema, in general, is clichéd, Sandel says he believes “100 per cent in the message of West Bank Story. I take the side of peace and hope, and if you lose hope, life doesn’t work.”
Doing the film was a personal mission fulfilled for its hero, Ben Newmark. “I thought it was important to be part of something that I believed in. You can do some eight million parts in Los Angeles, and half of that will be rubbish. But to do a film that means something to you is incredible.”
Sandel says, by and large, the film has been taken positively. “A lot of people thanked us for making the film. Its message isn’t new but when all you see are tragic films of the situation, there is one that offers a breath of fresh air, one that is positive, not one-sided and sees the situation from a new perspective.”
Sandel, Newmark and Noureen DeWulf chorus “yes” when asked if they believed love is the answer to peace, and then add: “Food too… love and food are very connected,” says Sandel.
And yet if the message of the film seems too simplistic, Sandel has only one more comment to add: “In the end we are human beings, and we have to find a solution. If you can find it (a solution for peace) anywhere else in the world, you can do it in the Middle East too.”
— Rajeev Nair
