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Ajami (film)

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Ajami
Arabic-language Theatrical poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Scandar Copti
  • Yaron Shani
Produced by
  • Moshe Danon
  • Thanassis Karathanos
  • Talia Kleinhendler
Starring
  • Fouad Habash
  • Ibrahim Frege
  • Scandar Copti
  • Shahir Kabaha
  • Eran Naim
CinematographyBoaz Yehonatan Yaacov
Edited by
  • Scandar Copti
  • Yaron Shani
Music byRabih Boukhari
Release date
  • 22 May 2009 (2009-05-22) (Cannes)
Running time
120 minutes
CountriesIsrael
Germany
United Kingdom
Languages
Budget$1 million
Box office$2.2 million

Ajami (Arabic: عجمي, romanized: ʿAjamiyy; Hebrew: עג'מי) is a 2009 Israeli Arab drama film. Its plot is set in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Plot

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The movie features five storylines, presented out of order, with some events revisited from different viewpoints. Nasri, a young Israeli Arab boy from Jaffa's Ajami neighborhood, narrates the film.

In the first storyline, Nasri's neighbor, a teenager, is killed in a drive-by shooting intended for Nasri's brother, Omar, who sold the victim his car. The attack stems from a feud where Nasri's uncle paralyzed a member of the Bedouin clan. Nasri and his sister are sent to Jerusalem for safety, leaving Omar, their mother, and grandfather in Jaffa. Omar seeks help from Abu Elias, who arranges a ceasefire and legal aid. Despite their efforts, Omar is ordered to pay a hefty sum for peace. Unable to gather the funds, Omar considers fleeing but ultimately stays, feeling trapped.

In the second storyline, we meet Malek, a teenager in Nablus, Palestine, working at Abu Elias's restaurant to fund his mother's surgery. Malek befriends Omar, who joins him at the restaurant. Omar, a Muslim, is secretly dating Hadir, Abu Elias's Christian daughter. When their relationship is discovered, Abu Elias fires Omar, forbidding him from seeing his daughter again.

In the third storyline, an elderly Jewish man clashes with his young Arab neighbors over noisy sheep, leading to a fatal stabbing. Israeli officer Dan, known as Dando, is involved, grappling with the disappearance of his brother Yoni, an IDF soldier. Yoni's fate remains a mystery, but when his remains are discovered, Dando vows to find his killer, despite the emotional strain on his family.

In the fourth storyline, Binj, an eccentric cook at Abu Elias's restaurant and friend of Omar, Shata, and Malek, falls for a Jewish girl from Tel Aviv, much to his friends' concern. When Binj's brother is linked to a stabbing in Jaffa, police question Binj and his father. Binj reluctantly agrees to hold drugs for his brother, hiding them during a gathering. Mistakenly believing Israeli drug dealers are after him, Binj swaps the drugs for harmless substances. He overdoses on the remaining drugs. Unaware of this, Omar unknowingly takes a fake drug package to settle debts, leading to a chain of events involving police intervention, mistaken identities, and tragic consequences.

In the fifth storyline, Omar, Malek, and Nasri confront what they think are drug dealers but turn out to be undercover police. Initially, it seems Malek is shot when the officers realize the drugs are fake. However, they're revealed to be police conducting a sting operation. Despite Omar's orders, Nasri joins them, witnessing the confrontation. During the chaos, Dando, a part of the operation, mistakes Malek's pocket watch for his missing brother Yoni's. Enraged, Dando attacks Malek, but Nasri intervenes, shooting Dando with Omar's gun. Nasri is fatally shot by another officer. The film ends with Omar searching for Nasri, who's missing from the car.

Production

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The film was written and directed by Scandar Copti (a Palestinian) and Yaron Shani (an Israeli Jew), Ajami explores five different stories set in an actual impoverished Christian and Muslim Arab neighborhood of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa metropolis, called Ajami. The many characters played by non-professional actors lend the story the feel of a documentary. The Arab characters speak Arabic among themselves, the Jewish characters speak Hebrew among themselves, and scenes with both Arab and Jewish characters are a naturalistic portrait of characters using both languages, as they would in real life.[1][failed verification]

The film was co-produced by [French, German, and Israeli companies – Inosan Productions, Twenty Twenty Vision, Israel Film Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, ZDF, Arte, and the World Cinema Fund.[citation needed]

Reception

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The film holds a 97% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 69 reviews with an average rating of 7.69/10. The website's critical consensus states, "This multi-character drama balances intimate portrayals and broad political implications to paint a bracing and moving portrait of the Middle East conflict".[2] It has a score of 82 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 22 critics.[3]

In Israel the film was well received, and won the Ophir Award for Best Film, defeating Golden Lion Award-winner Lebanon. It has been compared[by whom?] to Pier Paolo Pasolini's early films, and to more recent crime films such as City of God and Gomorra.

Ajami was the first predominantly Arabic-language film submitted by Israel for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and it was nominated for the award.[4] It lost to El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina). It was the third year in a row that an Israeli film was nominated for an Academy Award.

Awards

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Jewish-Arab crime film captures tensions, BBC, October 2009
  2. ^ "Ajami". Rotten Tomatoes.
  3. ^ "Ajami". Metacritic.
  4. ^ Brown, Hannah (2010-02-02), "'Ajami' nominated for Oscar", The Jerusalem Post
  5. ^ Yudilovitch, Merav (2009-01-11). "Israeli film 'Ajami' wins at Montpellier festival".
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