2009-08-29
$1.0M
120 min
Ajami is an area of Tel Aviv in Israel where Arabs, Palestinians, Jews and Christians live together in a tense atmosphere. Omar, an Israeli Arab, struggles to save his family from a gang of extortionists. He also courts a beautiful Christian girl: Hadir. Malek, an illegal Palestinian worker, tries to collect enough money to pay for his mother's operation. Dando, an Israeli cop, does his utmost to find his missing brother who may have been killed by Palestinians.
A fantastically well written, well acted, well directed and well shot film. You barely notice its 2 hr length, as every minute is rich in drama and character. It's not an epic film by any stretch, but it's a significant one - bringing forth an engaging, touching, and at times poetic, story of a part of the World where life has complexities we understand little of. It may not quite match fellow notable Foreign Language Oscar nominees, City Of God, or A Prophet; but it comes very close and has many similarities.
