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“The
Other Son” is a ‘small’ French film that grabs your heart and is held
by an ensemble cast that adds a realness that at times the screenwriters
(Nathalie Saugeon, Noam Fitoussi and Lorraine Levy, the latter also
directing) almost turn into a soap opera. The differences between
Palestinians and Israeli Jews surroundings are shown without
explanations and various languages including French, Arabic and Hebrew,
with a lot of English, are subtitled and one always knows where one is
and what is happening.
Joseph
(Jules Sitruk), raised as a Jew and Yacine, (Mehdi Dehbi) raised as an
Arab, find out at the age of 18 they had mistakenly been switched at
birth. Joseph is taking his medical exam when the question of his blood
type comes up and within time the switch is discovered. How the boys,
who find that they aren’t who they think they are, the parents and the
siblings, dea; with this problem is the crux of the movie.
Joseph’s
mother Orith (Emmanuelle Devos) is a French born doctor, while his
father, Alon, (Pascal Elbe) is an officer in the Israeli army. Joseph is
a free spirited musician who wants to be a singer. Yacine’s mother,
Leila (Areen Omari) is a mother and housewife who has lost a young son
and devotes her time to her three children while his father, Said,
(Khalifa Natour) is a mechanic, who Yacine says is an engineer but due
to conditions cannot practice his trade. Of all involved the mothers
find ways of accepting the situation and letting their sons know they
will always be their sons while the fathers find it hard to understand
that their flesh and blood have been raised to believe in the ‘other
side’. Yacine’s brother, Bilal (Mahmood Shalabi), has the hardest time
of all accepting Joseph as his blood brother. Growing up in the occupied
territories of the Israeli he pulls away from the brother he has loved
dearly and the new brother who he sees as an enemy. Shalabi has a face
and eyes that in other movies would yell “MOVIE STAR” but here he is
believable as a son and brother who does pull the audience away when he
is in scenes with any other member of the cast.
Whenever
Lorraine Levy starts to pull the story into a cliche the cast pulls
back and gives it the reality, heart and soul it needs. The musical
soundtrack, the director of photography along with the production
designs and costumes shows you the two different worlds that are side by
side.
“The
Other Son” will hopefully find an American audience though in all
probability very seldom does a film like this get awards in the U.S.A.
It is a definite ‘must see’ if you like first rate acting, a good story
and having your heart touched.
