West Bank Story (2005)

A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of dueling falafel restaurants on the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with Fatima, the beautiful Palestinian ... See full summary »

Director:

Ari Sandel

Writers:

Kim Ray, Ari Sandel

Stars:

Ben Newmark, Noureen DeWulf, A.J. Tannen

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Newmark	...	David
Noureen DeWulf	...	Fatima
A.J. Tannen	...	Ariel
Joey Naber	...	Ahmed
Haguy Wigdor	...	Ruvik
Oren Rehany	...	Uri
Nicholas Massouh	...	Mustafa
Will Greenberg	...	Shlomo
Sharif Ibrahim	...	Mahmoud / Masked Palestinian with I.D. (as Shareef Abrams)
Daniella Diezba	...	Ludmila
Keith Lal	...	Mohammed
Assaf Cohen	...	Menorah Mickey
Raymond Del Barrio	...	Bruce (as Ramon del Barrio)
Anthony Shams	...	Palestinian Costumer
Roger Marks	...	Israeli Customer

Storyline

A musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of dueling falafel restaurants on the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with Fatima, the beautiful Palestinian cashier of her family's falafel restaurant which competes with an Israeli falafel restaurant. Can the couple's love withstand a 58-year-old conflict?

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Plot Keywords:

love | west bank | palestinian | israeli | reference to shakespeare's romeo and juliet | 

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Taglines:

a little singing, a little dancing, a lot of hummus.

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Although Noureen DeWulf played a Palestinian Arab girl, she is actually of Gujarati Indian descent.

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Quotes

Ariel: This is the last straw!
[pause]
Ariel: Terrorist!
Ahmed: Occupier!
[everyone else assembled laughs derisively]
Ariel: Oh, yeah?
Ahmed: Yeah.
Ariel: Oh, yeah?
Ahmed: Oh, yeah!
Ariel: Oh, yeah?
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007)

User Reviews

amiable enough skewering of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict with fast food and singing

Strange that West Bank Story didn't live up completely to my expectations, but then again I only knew about the film- and anticipated it- from the five second clip shown during the Oscars (right before it won), with a high crane shot showing a bunch of Israelis and Palestinians dancing in the street. It was something out of left field among the nominees, and it gave me and those watching the Oscars a big belly laugh. Unfortunately the actual 22 minute short film only contains some scattered laughs, and doesn't go so much for outrageous political satire as much as lighter skewering of the two sides in a simple context: fast-food. West Bank Story gives us the two chains- Hummus Hut and Kosher King- each with their own wacky decorum (Hummus Hut with their kebab-hats, and the one employee at Kosher King in a large menorah costume, the latter being maybe the funniest sight gag), and equal hatred for the other.

A plot is hatched by Kosher King to build a wall ("Jews in construction?" is the Hummus Hut's response), while the other plots to simply burn down their opponent. But meanwhile, the sister-employee of the head of Hummus Hut falls for an Israeli soldier, and the two of them try to get the two sides to stop fighting. Sprinkled throughout this short are some funny moments of cultural lampooning, like hummus being confused with Hamas, and a split-screen during a musical number with Kosher King and Hummus Hut ending in an argument between which side is encroaching on the other. But overall trhe only criticism, however a significant one, is that it's so brief that only so much can be done with the material, and yet the director Sandel and the writers only go after a few specific things, leaving out more scathing possibilities, ala Mel Brooks or other, to go for the jugular with a touchy topic. It's a safe little comedy, but worth watching at least once, with some catchy songs and small winks to the original Wise/Robbins classic.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 January 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

West Bank Story

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$74,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

21 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (Digital)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1