“Circus Palestina” Wows L.A. Moviegoers

By Pat and Samir Twair

For the second consecutive year, critics lauded a Palestinian-themed movie at the Israeli Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 1997, Ali Nasser’s “The Milky Way,” which focused on the Israeli occupation of the Galilee, garnered rave reviews. In 1998, “Circus Palestina,” an improbable story of a Russian circus arriving on the West Bank during the intifada, captured the hearts of critics.

Both films were chiefly financed by the state Fund for the Promotion of Israeli Quality Films and both offer an almost uncensored view of life under military occupation. (“Palestina’s” director was not allowed to use the word intifada in the film.)

“Circus Palestina” opened the 15th annual Israeli Film Festival in Los Angeles and was repeated to a full house two weeks later. The film was written and directed by Eyal Halfon, a former journalist who served in the reserves on the West Bank during the intifada.

Though it may seem unlikely that a European circus would have traveled to the West Bank during the turmoil of the intifada, Halfon says this did happen and he even found the tattered remains of the actual circus tent in a Tel Aviv suburb. Inspiration for the story came more than two decades ago when he read about inexplicable lion paw prints in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The idea of a lion roaming through the Mount of Olives tickled his fancy until he put the images into script form.

Halfon’s first feature film, “Cup Final,” took a hard look at Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Israelis were not pleased with it, but the movie did win some awards in Europe. The commercial failure of the project convinced Halfon he should temper any further examinations of Israeli-Arab conflicts with flights of fantasy.

He does this sublimely in “Circus Palestina,” with Fellini-like scenes of circus trucks winding through West Bank roads while a camera pans on acrobats, clowns and outrageously dressed contortionists sitting beneath a beach umbrella in a flat bed truck. A well-meaning Sergeant Bleiberg (Yoram Chatav) falls in love with the shapely lion tamer (Evgenia Dudina) while the villainous Colonel Oz secretly operates a car-theft ring in the West Bank hamlet. Militant settlers on a hilltop enclave literally look down on activities in the town where soldiers wage war with the occupied population by continuously tearing down Palestinian flags that appear and reappear on every utility wire and rooftop in sight.

Halfon does not idealize his Palestinian characters. They, too, have faults. A case in point is the Palestinian entrepreneur (Basaam Zuamot) who brings the circus to town and who also is mixed up in the car- theft ring.

A scene of Israeli soldiers ordering Zuamot to risk his life by electrocution when he is ordered to climb a utility pole to bring down a flag nearly was cut from the film.

“Much more terrible things than this happened at the time in the West Bank and on our streets,” Halfon said, “but still, people said the scene was very difficult to watch. When you see it on the news it’s OK, but something different happens on a movie screen.”

When the Russian lion tamer watches the cat-and-mouse game of raising and destroying the Palestinian flag, she asks Sergeant Bleiberg what is wrong with the flag.

“It’s just too high,” he replies.

“So?” she responds.

“It’s too white,” Bleiberg weakly explains.

“So?”

“There are too many colors. It’s too much of a flag.”

The plot thickens when the main attraction of the circus, Shweik the lion, escapes.

Colonel Oz fears authorities may come from Tel Aviv if the commotion over the lion hunt continues and they likely would discover his thriving car-theft business. When soldiers shoot into the air at the imagined sound of a lion’s roar, Oz remarks:

“I love these sounds [gunfire] so early in the morning.” He longs for the day when the circus “blondes will stop driving us crazy and we’ll get back to our [stolen] Mitsubishis.”

The premise of the film is uttered by the hapless Sergeant Bleiberg, who confesses to the lion tamer that “too many promises have been given to too many people on only one land.”

In Israel, “Circus Palestina” won awards for best film, best script, best actor, best supporting actor and best musical score at the equivalent of the Academy Awards.

Lebanese View Regional Garb

The orchid gardens of Dr. Roger and Barbara Takla’s showcase Long Beach home was the setting for a poolside fashion show and luncheon of the Lebanese Ladies Society. Historical and regional dresses of the Levant were modeled by 10 members of the organization, which provides education to needy children in Lebanon.

Dr. Takla, who hails from Beirut and is director of the neonatal section of St. Mary’s Hospital in Long Beach, greeted guests in a traditional sherwal vest and cone-shaped hat.

More than 50 guests were on hand to hear a talk by Lebanese Consul General Gibran Soufan. Society President Ilham Nizam extended best wishes to the envoy, who has been in charge of Lebanon’s Los Angeles consulate for more than four years.

Druze Society Hosts Visit

A Lebanese delegation headed by Marwan Hamade, who sits in the Lebanese parliament, was honored at a reception in the American Druze Society Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Accompanying Hamade were Samar El-Khalil, Dr. Fuad Antun and Dr. Marwan Abou Chakra. All are founders of the Salamar Charitable Foundation for Social Development.

Hamade, who is a former minister of public health and economy, explained that the foundation is establishing a new center for the elderly in Beirut at Ain Wazein. The projected center will house 200 elderly and will provide health care services to more than 60,000 people in the area. Estimated cost of the three-story center is $2,786,000.

Dr. Abou Chakra explained that although the elderly traditionally have been cared for by their families, more and more elderly Lebanese are in need of shelter and specialized care. An existing building at Ain Wazein is home to 74 elderly people, two-thirds of whom are women and one-third disabled.

In addition to counseling and out-patient services, the new center will be equipped with physiotherapy facilities, 150 beds for chronic care patients, 50 beds for intermediate patients, 50 beds for psycho-geriatric needs, 10 beds for hospice use and 20 beds for acute care.

Lebanon’s 55th National Day

More than 800 friends and members of the diplomatic corps gathered Nov. 22 in the Beverly Hilton Hotel for a reception celebrating Lebanon’s 55th year of independence. Consul General Gibran Soufan welcomed guests and discussed his nation’s remarkable recovery from a debilitating civil war. The envoy noted that the 1998 municipal elections were a success for democracy and that the country is optimistic over the election of Emile Lahoud to a six-year term as president.

Turning to the economy, the consul general stressed that 57 American corporations have offices in Lebanon. He noted that the U.S. secretary of commerce has voiced optimism over the expanding Lebanese business community, which seems not to have been affected by the Asian financial crisis.

UCSB Concert Draws Fans

Composer-conductor Dr. Nabil Azzam taught at the University of California at Santa Barbara during the fall quarter while Dr. Scott Marcus was on sabbatical leave in Egypt. The culmination of Dr. Azzam’s stint at UCSB was a concert by the 65-member Middle East Ensemble.

To watch a UCSB ensemble performance is to experience authentic sounds and dances and songs of the Middle East ranging from classical and folk music to cabaret-style dances. Costumes enhance the performances of Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish and Sephardic selections. UCSB Middle East history students and those studying Arabic join in the program by providing English and Arabic translations of folk songs in each repertoire.

As guest conductor, Dr. Azzam premiered his original suite of Arab Art Music, introduced with a Dulab in maqam Bayyati. This was followed by an instrumental non-rhythmic improvisation taqasim capped by a new form which the composer calls mutlaq (absolute) that provided a fast melodic movement culminating in a lively violin solo.

Aficianados of Middle Eastern music traveled more than 120 miles to enjoy the evening of authentic Western Asian entertainment. Also on hand was Dr. Azzam’s friend from the Galilee, Judge Abdel Rahman Zoa’by, the only Arab to sit on Israel’s Supreme Court.

As a salute to his mentor, Egyptian composer Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab, Dr. Azzam opened the concert with ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s Bi Umri Kullu Habbaitak (I Loved You With All of My Life). A set of Turkomen songs from Kirkuk in northern Iraq were sung by Ishan Saib. Guest vocalist Pierre Bedrosian sang a set of Armenian songs that brought the audience of 500 fans to their feet. Another favorite was an oud solo by Afif Talan, a conservatory-trained musician from Homs, Syria.

UCSB student dancers performed Egyptian folk dances, highlighted by the “Saidi Rap,” a traditional cane dance in the saidi 4/4 rhythm. Student Aleko Verrios defied gravity during a Zembekiko solo men’s dance as he balanced a glass of ouzo on his forehead while performing splits and balancing his weight on one foot atop the glass.

The ensemble’s traditional finale was a cabaret dance by the incomparable Alexandra King, who teaches at UCSB. Other favorites were Susan Rudnicki, lead tablah, and high school student Tobias Roberson, who performs on the tablah as if he had become familiar with the drum while he still was in the cradle. We predict that blond Tobias will someday be renowned throughout the Middle East for his artistry on the instrument. Even younger than Tobias is Sara Moscov-Kessler, 13, whose high voice was able to meet the range called for in her duet with George Noujaim in Farid al-Atrache’s Busrat el-Reeh.

Pat and Samir Twair are free-lance writers based in Los Angeles.