West Bank Story (2005)

I love this movie so much

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

An absolute waste of money

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a 20-minute film from 2005 that won director and writer Ari Sandel an Academy Award. He wasn't too prolific in the last 10 years, but just had a pretty successful full feature movie at theaters this year again. Anyway, "West Bank Story" is as you may have guessed from the title a tale loosely based on the classic "West Side Story". It takes place on the Middle East and focuses in a funny manner on the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The countries are represented by two falafel stands here who are competing against each other for the customers. Not much later, the girl from one stand falls in love with the boy from another. The male lead actor has not acted that much recently, more gone into writing it seems. I really did like his voice though. He made this actually a pretty good musical with his singing. The female lead actress is much more famous. You may have seen her on Charlie Sheen's "Anger Management" where she played a major character. She was still very young when "West Bank Story" was made. Looks-wise she fit the character nicely, but her role did not really demand and great acting. All in all, I enjoyed it. It's a witty creative tale on the whole Middle East Conflict that is pretty unique. This film can also be an inspiration for young filmmakers that a smart idea and solid execution can be enough to even win an Oscar. Recommended.

I just saw this at the Boulder International Film Festival, and it was the highlight of the comedies. West Bank Story is a ruthlessly funny send-up of everything from Middle East tension to Hollywood musicals. I have no idea how much the filmmakers spent, but they went over the top for what appears to be a student film (USC). Great casting, music including a complete orchestral score, writing, production design - this has it all, especially for a short. I hope director Ari is able to find a career in Hollywood, because he deserves it. (OK, IMDb is forcing me to write more, so I'll tell you the movie featured a camel, clever sets, etc.)

I saw West Bank Story yesterday at the opening of the Boston International Film Festival. Despite being only 22 minutes in length, the director, Ari Sandel, brilliantly takes a parodistic approach to the movie-musical genre, but combines this with a satirical, yet poignant perspective on the Israeli/Palestinian dilemma. All of this is woven together, even while honoring the original inspiration for the plot (Romeo and Juliet, and later, West Side Story). Prepare yourself for dancing menorahs, choreographed falafel-making, and a full dose of ethnic stereotypes. The final product is visibly well-rehearsed, to-the-point, and quite hysterical. Go see this film!

I was fortunate to have seen this film at the Santa Cruz Film Festival this year and it was fantastic!! Humor, political satire, song, what's not to love? I was especially impressed with the quality of the writing - very sharp and funny- and the acting and film-making overall. Really well done and thoroughly entertaining. I expected to see some familiar names in the credits, say Spielberg or some such, but was surprised to learn it was a student film from USC. Top notch production quality and talent. The story line was so true to the Shakespearean plots in Romeo and Juliet (and West Side Story) but with a modern twist and sensibilities. Very timely political spin on the tensions of the West Bank. I will be looking for this on DVD as well as watching for new projects from this creative team. A must see!