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Created Jan 01, 2009 04:16PM PST • Edited Jan 01, 2009 04:16PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   a black comedy about a troupe of Egyptian martial musicians, the Alexandria Police Force Band, making a cultural exchange visit to Israel. A mispronunciation takes them to a flyspeck desert town with no amenities, where they are stuck overnight. The encounter with the locals introduce one kind of drama and irony; tensions within the troupe between the tired bureaucratic pride of the leader and the other musicians add a counter-harmony. Provincials all, they reach credibly across the many fissures separating the two sides, delivering a touching and realistic one-night melodrama. Compares favorably to The Visitor.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   Sasson Gabai nails the prideful middle-easterner, leveraging his experience of both Jewish and Arab culture to deliver a nuanced, tense but sympathetic band leader.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    Israeli cinema has come into its own, as good as any non-hollywood foreign film quality.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.0

17. Sex Innocent 1.0

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 3.0

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 5.0

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0