Ajami

Plot synopsis:
The film contains five story lines, each of which is presented in a non-chronological fashion. Some events are shown multiple times from varying perspectives. A young Israeli Arab boy, Nasri, who lives in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, narrates the film.
In the first story, Nasri's neighbor—a teenage boy—is shot to death by a well-known Bedouin clan in a drive-by shooting while working on his car. Nasri explains that the intended target was his older brother Omar, who had previously sold the car to the neighbor. The botched hit was revenge for a loss of one of Bedouin clan members, who was shot and paralyzed by Nasri's uncle in a dispute. Nasri and his younger sister are sent to Jerusalem, while Omar, his mother, and grandfather stay behind. Fearing for his family's safety, Omar seeks protection and guidance from Abu Elias, an affluent restaurant owner, and well known and respected member of the Jaffa community. Abu Elias arranges for a three-day ceasefire, and hires a lawyer to represent Omar in tribal court. During this time, Nasri and his sister return home. At the conclusion of the court session, the judge declares that Omar must pay tens of thousands of dinars—the equivalent of tens of thousands of US dollars—so peace can be restored. Omar is given three weeks to make good on his payment. Omar and his friend Shaata attempt petty crime in order to come up with the finances, but are unsuccessful at bringing in enough money. Omar's mother attempts to persuade him to escape with the family, but Omar refuses to leave, believing that there is no place to run to.
The second story introduces a young teenaged boy named Malek who lives in the Palestinian territory of Nablus. Malek is illegally employed in Abu Elias's restaurant, and works out of desperation to make enough money for his ailing mother's bone marrow transplant surgery. Malek is friends with Omar, who has also become a recent employee at the restaurant. It is also revealed that Omar, a Muslim, is in love with Abu Elias's daughter Hadir, a Christian. Abu Elias, once discovering the secret couple later in the film by catching them in the surreptitious act of flirtation, does not approve of their relationship, and angrily fires Omar, warning him to stay away from his daughter.
The third story shows a brief, but violent encounter between an older Jewish man and his three young drug dealing Arab neighbors. The dispute begins when the Jewish man complains to the young men that he has not been able to sleep, due to the fact that their bleating sheep keep him up all night. The disagreement soon escalates, and one of the young men mortally stabs the Jewish man. The three young men go into hiding before the police arrive. Amongst the policemen who arrive at the scene is an Israeli officer named Dan, nicknamed Dando by his friends. Viewers learn that Dando's younger brother Yoni has gone missing during his service in the Israeli Defense Forces. While rumors circulate that Yoni may have run away and became very religious, Dando's family—mother and father specifically—suspect that he may have been kidnapped or murdered by a Palestinian terrorist organization. Dando—a family man with a wife and kids—has remained strong for his emotionally broken family, as they make attempts at locating his brother. Later in the story, Dando is informed that the army has discovered the remains of what is believed to be a murdered Israeli soldier in the Palestinian territories. It is soon thereafter confirmed that the remains are Yoni's, and Dando—emotionally traumatized—vows to find the murderer and bring him to justice.
In the fourth story, viewers learn of the character Binj (who is played by co-director Scandar Copti) an eccentric cook who works in Abu Elias's restaurant. He is also close friends with Omar, Shaata and Malek. Binj is in love with a Jewish girl from Tel Aviv, and is thinking of moving in with her, much to the dismay of his group of friends. It is revealed that Binj's brother was one of the three involved in the stabbing of the Jewish man in Jaffa. Both Binj and his father are taken in and interrogated by the police. After his release, Binj reluctantly agrees to accept a great deal of drugs that belongs to his brother who is still on the run. Early one morning, after a social gathering in his house, Binj awakes Malek so he won't be late to the restaurant's opening and hides in his presence the brick of drugs. Just when Malek is leaving he sees three Hebrew speaking men enter Binj's house. When Binj is found dead in his apartment not long afterward, Malek and Omar initially suspect that he was murdered by a group of Israeli drug dealers. It is later revealed that those three men were actually policemen who came to search Binj's house and intimidate him into revealing his brother's location. Having to leave after he told them nothing the police promises Binj to return. Binj, tired from the situation and annoyed by the ongoing harresment of the police, discarded the majority of the drugs, put sugar powder inside packages mimicking drug bricks and hid them around the house in an attempt to mock the police, should they ever return. Binj then proceeds to snort the remainder of drugs he did not discard and accidentally dies of a drug overdose. All of this is unbeknownst to Malek and Omar who, after Binj's death, takes one of the hidden mock-drug packages and, thinking it is the drugs, decides to sell it to a drug dealer in an attempt to pay off their respective debts. Abu Elias learns of their plans and tips off the police, thinking Omar will be caught, thus ending the relationship between Omar and his daughter. Initially, Abu Elias fires Malek after learning of his involvement with drugs, but after Malek's pleading and after learning that Omar will not go alone to the exchange he changes his mind, and instructs Malek to meet the dealers with Omar, but warns him not to carry the drugs on his person. He assures Malek that once Omar is taken into custody by the police, Malek can return to the restaurant and that his sick mother will be taken care of. Like Omar and Malek however, Abu Elias does not realize that the drugs are fake.
The fifth story shows the encounter between Omar, Malek, and the drug dealers. Toward the beginning of the film, viewers are shown the scene, and initially led to believe that Malek was shot to death by the drug dealers, once they discovered the drugs were fake. It is revealed later however, that the dealers were actually policemen executing a sting operation. It is also revealed that Omar's younger brother Nasri insisted on accompanying Omar and Malek to the meeting, afraid that something bad would happen to his brother. Upon arrival, Omar tells Nasri to stay in the car, and at Malek's urging, leaves his gun behind as well. At the meeting, the police tackle and beat Omar and Malek after they discover the drugs are fake. Dando, who is a part of the sting, sees Malek with the pocket watch he planned to give Abu Elias as a present. Dando believes that the watch belonged to Yoni and in a fit of rage beats Malek and aims his gun at him with the intent to murder him. However Nasri, who hadn't stayed in the car as ordered, sees the gun pointed at Malek, and shoots Dando with Omar's gun. He is then shot and killed by another officer. The film ends with Omar escaping down an alleyway and getting back to the car, only to discover that Nasri is missing.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
The film, named for the Jaffa neighborhood where most of it takes place, chronicles the story of several neighborhood residents who tread through life amid rampant crime, strict Arab family structures and rules, clan law, revenge killings, harsh police and racism, and the growing Jewish presence in the neighborhood.
Ajami is the first full length feature film directed by two young Israelis Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani.They have produced an extraordinary film which features five separate stories set in Ajami, a poor Arab neighborhood situated in the city of Tel-Aviv/Yafo.
The many characters are played mostly by non professionals, i.e. are not working actors, and the result gives a documentary feel to the film.
The viewer wants to know more about them and their lives but time is limited.The film shows a part of Israeli society rarely shown in Israeli films (Arab Moslem and Arab Christian families living in Ajami) and the makers are to be commended for their achievement in showing a rather hidden side of our society..
Oh, what a treat.Taking on the fashionable use of related threads and retelling the same narrative from a different angle, this film delivers a bullet tough view of street life and crime around Jaffa.The audience is sucked into the maelstrom so quickly, that we forget the media view of the great enmity and realise that there are, of course, many smaller ones.
The cast of characters is huge and hard to keep track of, the plot is artificially discontinuous, and in short if you want to get the movie straight, you'd better be ready to see it twice.
The consensus was unanimous, an excellently executed film, showing the rawness and tensions simmering within Israel's Arab & Jewish populations.In his pre-screening presentation the director correctly focused on one of the core reasons why Jews & Arabs continue to be suspicious of the other...in many ways it is down to the Jews not speaking Arabic and only a few of the Arabs speaking Hebrew.
As they see the individual characters unwind, the Arab store owner, the Israeli cop, things begin to get more complicated.The primary power of Ajami is in its mode of storytelling which correlates to the content itself.
The viewer may be tempted to judge or hold preconceived notions about the characters until the filmmakers, often with great effect, reveal the true intentions of these individuals.This can be applied to the whole of the Israel-Palestine situation.
This film, which tells its several stories episodically and without drawing any explicit lessons, conveys the hazards attending life in a place where Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Arabs, both Muslim and Christian, Bedouin and other criminal gangs, rub up against one another under the sometimes watchful eye of Israeli police.
Ajami is a first film by the team of Scandar Copti, an Israeli Arab (with a Christian family name), and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew. It gained recognition at Cannes and in Israel; and is nominated for the Best Foreign Oscar.
Using locally recruited non-actors, shooting in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, which has become a mostly Arab ghetto outpost of Tel Aviv, 'Ajami' is full of improvisation and hand-held camera work that give it an intense feeling of immediacy -- and seethes with action disturbing enough to leave you feeling bruised.
Despite the myriad hostilities and misunderstandings 'Ajami' depicts -- between Palestinians from the territories and Israeli Arabs; Arab Christians and Arab Muslims; Israelis and Arabs; rich and poor; old and young -- there is hope in the fact that an Arab and a Jew could team up for such passionate film-making.'Ajami' interweaves multiple story-lines with a documentary feel using a large cast and, to make matters more complicated but also underline interconnections, it's divided into chapters that are not quite in chronological order so some events are seen again, from a different angle the second time.
Malek also has an impossible financial burden, needing to raise many thousands to pay for a bone marrow transplant for his seriously ill mother.Eventually both Omar and Malek are drawn into trying to deal dope to raise money, against the strong objections of Nasri, and totally against the wishes of Abu Elias, who wishes to appear to function within the law, even if he doesn't.Meanwhile there are the Israeli and near-Israeli parts of the story.
He is pressured by his Arab friends for this, and his life turns tragic when he holds drugs for the others after his brother has stabbed a Jewish neighbor in an argument over noisy animals, and the cops manhandle him, with Dando on hand in his bad-cop role.
(The problems faced by Arabs living in a Hebrew-speaking Israeli environment has also been dealt with in the hit Israeli sitcom "Arab Work.") It doesn't necessarily seem as though Dando is more dangerous, in a sense, for the young Palestinians than the brutish Abu Elias, who threatens to break Omar's bones if he continues his courtship of Hadir.
Partly it is the elders who appear as the villains, more threatening here than Israeli checkpoint guards.One has to grapple with all these plot elements to follow 'Ajami.' The intersections get complicated, and the film is a bit under-edited at two full hours, but there is a wealth of cultural material that gets across along with the insistent problems and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness for young Arabs.
'Ajami' doesn't stop for a breath or a moment of happiness: it succeeds in convincing you that isn't possible.Further proof of that impossibility came early this month (February 2010) and life imitated art when Scandar Copti's brother Tony, a supporting actor in the film, was arrested after Israeli police accused some Ajami teenagers of hiding drugs who said they were only burying a dog.
In a Ajami's case, the wide selection of locations enhances the strong linkage: a small village near Nablus, the city of Tel-Aviv, a Bedouin encampment can be all linked by a single event.By going in digging backwards into the events, it seems like only more questions arise, more events happen to be linked and the reality happens to be far different to what we expect.This is the biggest quality of the film: It manages to open the eyes of those who thought their eyes were open already..
However, it was recognized by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences (i.e, the Oscar folks) and was nominated for Best Foreign Language movie.This film is very unusual because it is seen from several different viewpoints.
I never would have imagined an Israeli film where the main characters are divided up into chapters and each one stars such different people--such as Palestinian Muslims, Palestinian Christians as well as Jews.
Open your eyes." Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film at the 2010 Academy Awards, the outstanding Israeli film Ajami makes clear the human cost of decades of political and military strife between Jews and Arabs in the neighborhood of Ajami in Jaffa, Israel.
Each religious and ethnic community is trapped in the same tunnel searching for a speck of light.Shot on location using mostly non-professional actors including neighborhood recruits, directors Yaron Shani (an Israeli), Scandor Copti (a Palestinian), in their first feature, capture the look and feel of a community in disarray with such remarkable detail and raw urgency that Ajami could easily be mistaken for a documentary.
As the film opens, 13-year-old Nasri (Fouad Habash) is prescient when he says "I know I can feel what is about to happen." Shortly thereafter, a drive-by shooting kills an innocent fifteen year old boy when he is mistaken for Nasri's older brother Omar (Shahir Kabaha).
In dire straits and desperate for money, Omar falls into the underworld of drugs and violence.Meanwhile, Malek (Ibrahim Frege), a sweet-faced 16-year-old Palestinian boy living in the Occupied Territories comes to Jaffa to find work at the restaurant of Abu Elias.
Fearful of being sent home because of his illegal status, he works hard to try and pay for a bone marrow transplant that may save his mother's life but his need for money brings him into Omar's circle.
In another sub-plot, Hadir's (Ranin Karim) relationship with Omar crosses religious lines (she is a Christian and he is a Muslim) and is adamantly opposed by her father Abu Elias who forbids her to ever see Omar again even though she pleads how much she loves him.Events in the film come thick and fast: Bing, a wealthy Palestinian (Scandar Copti) wants to live with his Jewish girlfriend in Tel Aviv but a police raid looking for drugs puts an end to his plans, an angry Israeli policeman named Dando (Eran Naim) searches for his missing brother who was drafted into the Army and is feared to have been killed by the Arabs, a Jewish man is stabbed to death after complaining about the noise from sheep kept by Palestinians living nearby.
Ajami leaves the viewer with little to be hopeful about, but the fact that a Jew and an Arab could collaborate on an intelligent and passionate motion picture based in part on their own experiences is an important step forward.Change, however, will not come easily to Israel.
Quiet interesting story well told with fine performances and direction.Also the script is fine and all the TWISTS actually work.This is not actually Just Israeli or Palestinian portrayal, it portrays a lot of crime, drugs and stuff around us every where from south to north or east to west.Current rating of Ajami is 6.9 with mere 475 votes.
Coming-of-age story among Arabs living in Israel.
Unlike many films from Israel which traditionally present an "Israeli" or "Palestinian" point of view, "Ajami" portrays a side of life that few ever see -- Arabs living in Israel.
In fact, not only is this film not primarily about Arabs and Israelis, it actually deals with conflict within the Israeli Arab world between Muslims and Christians.Written, directed, and edited by Scandar Copti, "Ajami" is a two-hour "Crash"-like drama which looks at several violent incidents, some linked more than others, and then focuses on one in particular from different perspectives told through the use of flashbacks.
It's stories from the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, Israel.
'Ajami' tells a depressing and predictable story of poverty, violence and crime in Israel and the occupied territories.
It's written and co-directed by an Israeli and a Palestinian--Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani.This is a powerful film that takes place in the Ajami district, on the outskirts of Jaffa.
Like many recent Israeli films, 'Ajami' succeeds to illustrate the enormous ethnic and cultural complexity of the country, with an authentic, non-trained cast to boot.
I'd say it's a must-see for anybody interested in the Middle East, because it presents a view into Israeli society that is all too often obliterated by politics.Focusing on the low-income, ethnically mixed neighborhood of the same name, 'Ajami' describes a number of interwoven relationships, touching petty crime, revenge killings, labor extortion and police corruption.
The only weak point is that on top of these everyday occurrences, the film uses the disappearance of an Israeli soldier as a central plot device; while this may be a real risk, it's not an everyday occurrence as the other incidents described and therefore feels a bit forced.Other than that, 'Ajami' has a very special, raw, authentic feel to it, especially in its first hour, when it spreads out in so many different directions that it becomes difficult to follow, but never obscure.
Only in the end, when the directors try to reconnect the threads of their stories, it takes a bit of a dive.If you allow yourself to be captivated by 'Ajami''s atmosphere and don't focus to much on the plot, you're in for a real treat..
Story has been told by separate chapters, and not sequentially in time.Each chapter gives just about the right weight for character and story-line development, no less and no more.The film does let dichotomy regarding the cultural, religious, economic and ethnic conflicts be presented, beginning to end, as viewers may all have participated.What distinguish the film from the average arrangement is 1).
This gives the exciting movie going experiences, much more than, if this film has been shot in, a linear, one way, manner, instead, to offer.After seeing the movie, viewers can fully apprehend why living in this territory is complicated enough and dichotomy is no longer dichotomy for an outsider to judge those who are in this entanglement of the millennium; sadly, it remains hard for generations to expect resolutions in an easy way..
I was drawn in more to the lives of the residents of the Ajami neighborhood than I was to those of the Jewish Israeli characters.
Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani are both film makers from the same side of the fence from Isreal (one Jewish,the other Arab),who are the voice of reason,in the middle of all of the turmoil.
Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani co-write,direct & edit this,at times difficult to watch,but easy to admire film that opts for a documentary look (courtesy of director of photography,Boaz Yaacov),and featuring not just an original music score (by Rabih Boukhari),but some inspired use of both traditional,as well as contemporary Arab & Isreali folk & popular music (by musical consultant,Watan El Kassem).
This Israeli crime-drama directed by Scandae Copti and Yaron Shani grips audiences into a gritty and brutal inside look at the life of Israelis growing in the violent streets of Jaffa.
The story follows five interconnected story lines of the lives of Arabs, Jews, Palestinians, and Christian as they witness violence, crime, and persecution in the neighborhood of Ajami.
In an effort to protect his friends and family, Omar partners up with a young man named Malek (played by Ibrahim Frege) to sell drugs to earn money for his ill mother who is need of an operation, while struggling to survive the violence that erupts in the streets and the forbidden relationship of his Christian girlfriend Hadir (played by Ranin Karim).
In the meantime, Israeli cop Dando (played by Arran Naim) is on the search for his missing brother who goes AWOL in the military.Director Scandae Copti gives this film the emotional investment and solid writing it needs, and his efforts pay diligently in this picture.
With the story told in a non-linear perspective, the film provides viewers with plenty of shock and an outstanding plot twist at the end that is nearly impossible to predict.
Arabs (Palestinians) living in Israel--plot mechanism is confusing.
That goes for the dismal cluttered apartments and street/work scenes as well--yes I am positive that it is wonderfully real but 2 hours is painful.20% of Israel's population is ethnic arab--this is a look at them but too much of a chore to watch.Gomorrah was better (Italian mob movie similar plot construction to this).
'Ajami', the Israeli entry for the Oscar this year is very different from the successful films that represented the country in the previous years.
Directed by two newcomers on the cinema scene Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, it is acted most of the time in Arabic and deals with a world that many Israelis know only from the news - the crime and poverty dominated Arab districts at the periphery of the Israeli big cities.The name of the film is of one of these areas, in Jaffo, south and close to the shining lights of the Tel Aviv metropolis.Playing a little on the violent suburbs genre that was successful in other off-mainstream cinema schools 'Ajami' a complex crime story, involving a few characters who seem to be doomed for tragedy.
The story is told from the perspective of the different characters, it requires attention to follow, and even if it has logic and all pieces of the puzzle eventually fit well, the different angles and the jumps in time make the film difficult or at least demanding to see.
Actors are directed towards a very natural way of acting, improvisation and living the character seems to be the rule rather than careful rehearsal of the role - this gives a feeling of natural and chaos of life, but it asks the viewer rather than the director to fill in with meaning what happens on screen.
Ajami is a gritty and edgy drama set on the mean streets of Jaffa, an area of Tel Aviv with high unemployment and crime rates.
Like Gomorrah, etc, the film follows a number of interwoven story lines and characters, and events are seen from a number of different perspectives.The crux of the story deals with an act of revenge that sparks a violent war between two crime clans.
Ajami has been written and directed by Yaron Shani (whose previous film was the short Disphoria) and first time director Palestinian Scandar Copti.
The film's central character is Omar (Shahir Kabaha), is a young Israeli of Arab descent who crosses some gangsters and has to broker a deal to save his family.
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.
Well-acted and well-directed movie about crime and violence, set in a volatile area where people of many origins and cultures are supposed to get along.
We get a good sense of place.But ...Too many characters.Too many sub-themes – like relationships of Jewish-Muslim, Christian- Muslim, drug addiction, migrant workers, family conflicts, boyfriend – girlfriend problems.Too many neighborhoods are featured – locations become confusing, as in where are we now.Film is way too long – and at times the pace sags – in other words becomes boring.The use of time-warping – as in mixing the sequence of events – is over-used and a gimmick.