Review of Tel Aviv on Fire

In Ramallah a contemporary Palestinian TV crew produce a popular soap opera in which the characters set out to change the historic record of the Six Days War of 1967. A Parisian Arab star Tala plays a spy who goes undercover to seduce the Israeli commander, planning to steal his plans for Israel's surprise attack. History did not then set Tel Aviv on fire but this popular TV drama would. This film is a light-handed but thoughtful examination of the myths and fictions that drive both sides in that conflicted area. The Israelis and the Palestinians cling to their respective histories, which define their present perceptions and impede their warmer human connections. This is most explicitly dramatized in the debate over whether the TV drama should conclude with a marriage between the spy and the Israeli soldier, now in love with each other. That would allow for another season of drama, salaries, and work, but at the cost of political integrity. Or will the bride blow up the (camouflaged church) synagogue? Spoiler alert: at least in this fiction the inner fiction opts for life over death. As in myths, the end is latent in the beginning. In an early scene the cast and writer argue over whether calling a beautiful woman "explosive" is romantic. The film also traces the maturing of the hero Salam, an unpromising fumbler who draws a menial salary by making coffee for his producer uncle, when he isn't stumbling into sets. When Salam tells the border crossing captain Assi he's a screenwriter his lie gradually turns into a truth. That's what myths do. The Israeli drafts scenes for him, in hopes of impressing his wife, sister and mother, who are enrapt at the drama. Their partnership cracks over the classic distinction between "terrorist" and "freedom fighter." For all their mutual help Assi's seizure of Salam's ID card is a harsh reminder of their imbalance in power and the danger beneath the present charm. As Salam gains confidence and starts attending to the conversations around him and his own feelings and impulses, he starts to write scenes himself. As he outgrows the Israeli's control he lives out the history of a colonized people growing into independence. As Israel did in 1948. His new talent and career also win him the girl he loves and earlier lost. He wins her by replaying on screen the sentiments he awkwardly tried to express in life. Art amends the failures in life, as the Palestinians hoped their '67 war rewrite would do. Captain Assi initially requires Salem to bring him the esteemed Palestinian hummous. Here the drama alludes to the fervid debate over who invented that delicacy, Israel or the Palestinians. Here it's advantage Palestine as Assi rhapsodizes over a junk hummous Salam concocts out of canned hummous long past its shelf life. For the men's climactic reconciliation Salem brings him to the best. Both warring cultures in the audience may bristle at the odd line, or find a historic nit to pick. But the overall warmth and charm should prevail. Among the various international sources of funding for this project, the Israeli government's film support looms significant.