Set in the eponymous Ajami neighbourhood of Jaffa this film follows the intertwined lives of several of its inhabitants. These include Omar, a Muslim Arab whose family are in danger after his uncle shot a Bedouin criminal; Abu Elias, a Christian Arab and pillar of the community; Malek, a Palestinian who is in Israel illegally to earn money to pay for his mother's hospital treatment and Dando, an Israeli police officer whose brother has disappeared. As the film progresses we dip in and out of their lives; frequently seeing the same events from a different perspective. These events are occasionally violent but this is not graphic; just tragic.
The characters speak a mixture of Arabic and Hebrew but as I had to rely on subtitles and aren't familiar with the languages I couldn't tell which languages was been spoken at any given time. The cast did a fine job; it left like I was observing real people rather than watching actors performing. Writer/directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani did a good job getting the most from this cast and expertly used real locations. The film isn't without its flaws though; at two hours it seemed a little bit too long and the sound level was often too low... often I could barely hear that people were talking and only realised because subtitles were on the screen; one might think this wouldn't matter but without hearing their voices properly it was hard to feel any of the emotion of what they were saying. Overall I'd say this is well worth watching if it is on television and you want to watch something a little different.
The characters speak a mixture of Arabic and Hebrew but as I had to rely on subtitles and aren't familiar with the languages I couldn't tell which languages was been spoken at any given time. The cast did a fine job; it left like I was observing real people rather than watching actors performing. Writer/directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani did a good job getting the most from this cast and expertly used real locations. The film isn't without its flaws though; at two hours it seemed a little bit too long and the sound level was often too low... often I could barely hear that people were talking and only realised because subtitles were on the screen; one might think this wouldn't matter but without hearing their voices properly it was hard to feel any of the emotion of what they were saying. Overall I'd say this is well worth watching if it is on television and you want to watch something a little different.