Saturday 16 July 2016

Film Review: "The Idol" (2015).


"From the two-time Academy Award nominated director of Paradise Now and Omar." "Based on the incredible true story" comes The Idol. This Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad, and co-written by Abu-Assad and Sameh Zoabi. Talented teenage singer Mohammed Assaf travels from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to audition for the television show "Arab Idol."

The film is based on the true story (with a few fictionalized elements) of Assaf, a singer from Gaza, who was the winner of the second season of "Arab Idol". Principal photography took place in Gaza, the first feature film to be shot there in over two decades, along with Jenin, Amman, Beirut and Cairo.

The film stars Tawfeek Barhom, Kais Attalah, Hiba Attalah, Ahmad Qasem, Abdel Kareem Barakeh, Nadine Labaki, and Ashraf Barhom. The actors project a special authenticity that engages the viewer. The film's real heat came from the soulful performance by Tawfeek as Mohammed Assaf. It's his determination, as much as Boyle's exuberance, that sells the whole thing.

Visually dazzling and emotionally resonant, The Idol is a film that's both entertaining and powerful. An example of a film that's a triumph of all its parts, wherein there are certainly faults, but you're prepared to forgive it. The film so effectively transports viewers to the busy, vibrant, contradictory streets of the Gaza Strip. Abu-Assad takes advantage of the different moments of the boy's life to immerse himself into painful reality. It's not about poverty pornography. It's not about a White guy showing us touchy Brown-skins squatting by the rail-tracks. In the end, it's just about a film, which sweeps you up and takes you for an exhilarating ride on the wild side. Abu-Assad here summons universal identification with characters while still fully immersed in the specificity of their milieu. The film is an exhilarating ride - a feel-good yarn about a Gaza Strip street kid directed by Abu-Assad with a wild energy that makes even Paradise Lost (Abu-Assad's calling card) look leaden-footed. A compelling piece of entertainment that poses bigger questions than it answers, the film is a modern version of the Cinderella story with some spicy food for thought, and an undeniably sweet core. The movie's other star is the city itself, which is brought to hectic, exuberant life by Abu-Assad and cinematographer Ehab Assal. It is a good film and an appealing film with some lovely performances but it's not a great film: it's too sentimental and predictable for that. Any time you see the words "human spirit" attached to a movie, run for the hills. You're about to see a manipulative film in which the scrappy underdog wins against impossible odds. It's a story with a simple and schematic structure, yet as the film progresses and the stakes get higher it cleverly works the built-in tension of the TV show into the drama of the unfolding narrative. It's just a fairy tale, maybe the most delightfully straightforward adaptation of folkloric archetypes I've seen in a modern movie.

Simon says The Idol receives:



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