Tel Aviv on Fire (2018) User Reviews

I finally like soap operas. At least one of them!

[FrenchEddieFelson · 8/10 · 9 April 2019]

Tel Aviv on Fire is a jubilant comedy about Israel and Palestine, grazing the absurd on serious subjects. The interactions between the different characters from either Israel or Palestine are a veritable delight. The movie Tel Aviv on Fire is about the shooting of an eponymous soap opera, a kind of an imaginary remake of the pathetic and immortal The Young and the Restless (1973), taking place in Tel Aviv and dealing with love between Israelis and Palestinians, during the Six-Day War, with spies, double agents, generals, terrorists and tutti quanti.

The movie is essentially based on these three characters: 1) Tala is the lead actress within the soap opera, coming from France. She is a middle-aged starlet, a seductive and manipulative woman, and regularly gazes at her own navel. She is played by Lubna Azabal, moving and sublime in Incendies (2010). 2) Salam is a somewhat clumsy but endearing man who, thanks to a happy combination of circumstances, will be promoted co-scriptwriter on the series. Of course, as human as he is, he will use his new position, a bit for himself, in order to win back his beloved darling. 3) Assi is a guard at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, and is terribly imbued with his person to a point that makes him hilarious. His megalomania allows him to interfere in writing the script!

This movie is definitely a must see: the trio Lubna Azabal, Kais Nashif and Yaniv Biton is a 'bomb' (an absurd and two-penny joke, freely inspired from the movie).

Hilarious Cross Cultural Comedy

[truemythmedia · 8/10 · 26 November 2019]

This film was an absolute pleasure to watch. It is rare, in my experience, to find a foreign comedy that still works as well for me, an American, as it might for a native speaker of the language. I also expected much more in terms of heavy subject matter than I got in the film. As much as it is about the conflict in the Middle East, the conflict is more of the backdrop and subtext than the main action we are given.

There isn't a lot in the cinematography or editing that is super amazing but it is all serviceable and doesn't get in the way of the story, even if it doesn't add much either.

The main draw for this film is the acting and writing. Both of these work in tandem to create characters and situations that we are able to identify with and laugh at without getting so wrapped up in projecting the themes of the movie across in an obvious or pointed way. It never feels preachy but keeps its lightheartedness in tact so you are surprised when you get to the end of the film and find that you are still thinking about coexistence and getting along with people who are different than us.

The humor in the film is deftly done, not giving in to the temptation to be total parody, although some small amount is required, and also not giving in to total realism, slamming one side harder than the other as the writer's political views accidentally bleed through the page. It never gets so serious that you feel like the writer just has an axe to grind for a particular political party nor does it stray so far into satirical farce that you can really watch it and call it frivolous. It is both true to life and ridiculous at the same time.

There were definitely things in this film that were hard for me as an American to understand. I'm not super well versed in the history of the Israel-Palestine Conflict and thus don't immediately know an Arab from a Jew just by looking at them or even from a quick glance at a uniform. This made it somewhat difficult to know what side of things certain characters were on at certain points but it was never so bad that I felt I had missed the point of the movie. It actually got me more interested in reading more about the history of the region. I definitely feel that there were certain jokes I didn't get , though, because of this cultural ignorance on my part just the same as I'm sure some of the TV Production scenes would have been less funny to someone who hadn't worked in the industry before.

All in all, it was a pretty great film. I laughed a lot and really appreciated the creative solutions they found to the main conflicts in the film which predominantly revolve around Palestinian/Israeli issues. This film is a great example of how humor can be used to bring a level of humanity to people that we are all tempted to believe are simply expressions of common stereotypes or political straw-man.

a soap opera about a soap opera about the conflict

[dromasca · 8/10 · 2 June 2019]

Making a film about the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians (or, shortly, 'the conflict' as the locals call it) is probably almost as complicated as the peace talks between the two sides. Yet, scriptwriter and director Sameh Zoabi chose not only to write and direct such a film, but also chose as topic the making nowadays of such a film titled 'Tel Aviv on Fire'. The genre? A soap opera - one of the most popular forms of cinema and television entertainment in the Middle East, with peak viewing rates among both the Jewish and the Arab sectors. The historical moment when the action takes place? The 1967 war, one of the key moments of the "conflict," a crushing Israeli victory and Arab defeat, perceived in polarized opposite ways by the two sides. An Arab television studio in Ramallah is making a soap opera that tries to rewrite history, as many movies from big houses do, in this case the 1967 war history. A brilliant cinematic idea - a soap opera in a soap opera.

The main hero (performed by the excellent actor Kais Nashif) is an aspiring film maker who works as a Hebrew language consultant for the soap opera, and who finds himself blessed with the opportunity to become the script writer of the series, having to reconcile all the parties that seem impossible to coexist in this part of the world: the Arab sponsors wishing that the film has a more patriotic message, the Israeli officer commanding the crossing point between Jerusalem and territories who wants to embellish the image of the Israeli officer in the story, the producer who wants to make a successful film, and his girlfriend who doubts his feelings. They all follow the successive episodes of the series and the way the action progresses, but can there be any outcome that is acceptable to all? Or is such an outcome just as impossible as a solution for peace in the Middle East?

The hero in the film has as tools his own talent and a few portions of humus (another topic of Israeli-Palestinian cultural mini-conflict). Director Sameh Zoabi uses the tools of soap opera combined with absurd humor, so suited to a conflict unwanted by most of those involved. Zoabi does not avoid stereotypes, on the contrary, uses them skillfully and in balanced doses. The result is better than I expected. He will not succeed in making everyone happy, I am convinced that many of those who have seen or will see the film will find smaller and bigger details that make them angry and will claim that the screenwriter /director has exaggerated in his sympathy with the other side. Probably even angrier will be some of those who will not see the movie but talk and write about it. Many of the situations seemed to me too exaggerated or unlikely, but I think such deviations are possible and admissible in a comedy that tries to approach in the satirical registry situations that are not simple at all. An extra merit of the film is that it brings to screen an intellectual and middle class Palestinian environment that is not shown too often in local films. I found 'Tel Aviv on Fire' to be an amusing and a necessary film. After all, if we really want to live in peace one day, we need, among other, to be able to sit one by the other, watch the same movie and laugh together. Even if the reasons and the scenes we laugh at are not always the same.

COMEDY AT A PERILOUS TIME

[albertval-69560 · 7/10 · 5 December 2021]

It's a pleasant surprise how a Palestinian film about a very serious issue could be funny at all. But this one pulls it off rather nicely.

The approach to make a film within a film works beautifully in this one. And the result is pure comedy.

The viewer heartily laughs at the seeming incongruity of Salam's situation. He has to cross the border daily to go to the West Bank where he works as a film production assistant and finding himself in a bind one morning after making an innocuous remark to an Israeli border guard. This silly encounter and its immediate outcome changes his life forever.

Kais Nashif is naturally funny as Salam. Yaniv Biton as Assi is credible as the border commander. His interaction with Salam as they finish the script of the soap opera is hilarious. And the ending is a marriage of convenience of sorts. It's one that satisfies extremists on either side of the aisle.

The message of the film is simple: promote the peace when each side listens to the other. Assi thinks so.

Good Stuff

[canniballife-78396 · 7/10 · 17 June 2020]

OK - so it's not hard to predict where this is going - but, just in case you have no idea what life is like on the West Bank, this film is full of gritty reminders what it's like to live under occupation...under someone's thumb, essentially. The lead character, Kais Nashif, reminded me so much of Michael Richards that it was distracting - but a clever story with a clever ending, and the startling information that you can buy hummus in a can.

Instant Classic

[nick_habib · 10/10 · 5 August 2019]

"Tel Aviv on Fire" is an instant classic. I didn't think a comedy that revolves around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict was possible but Sameh Zoabi pulled it off. That is not to say that the movie downplays the suffering and struggles of everyday life there, it is clear as day on the screen. But even the darkest of situations requires a sense of humor and perhaps humor can be the first step towards peace.

This movie is on FIRE!

[peeedeee-94281 · 9/10 · 14 August 2019]

I watched this and I loved it! I really liked the fact that you couldn't predict where it was going. Sure, it wasn't going to end 'badly', like people dying, but the end game as definitely not given up. That's what kept me gripped. The humor is very well done, very subtle, as is the political aspects of this movie. I like that the director wanted to remind people of how life is in the occupied territories, but not in a lecturing manner. And we don't get beaten over the head with it either. Some people have commented on the portrayal of Salam, and how the actor seems to just be wrong for the role. I beg to differ. I think he's perfect! The whole hilarious aspect of this is that he's kind of bumbling his way to the top. He's very imperfect, and bad things happen to him, but then turn into good things. It's just funny how everything just works out, so that's part of the charm of it. If he was a verbose, charismatic person, it would distract from the soap opera acting on the set within the film. The best thing about this film is that everyone plays an important part in moving the story forward to the final outcome, even the shopkeeper with the expired canned hummus. No single actor or character steals scenes, everyone plays their parts and does a good job of it. The ending is definitely the best 'twist' ending I've seen in a long time! Highly recommended if you want to watch a feel-good movie set in a difficult, politically charged environment.

Failure

[pheisbourg · 1/10 · 27 April 2019]

This is an attempt to show that Israelis, especially in the armed forces, have their faults, and their dose of stupidity and vanity. In contrast, the cool-headed Palestinian is sooooo cool. The humor here is lost on me and I slept through much of the debilitating dialogue.

Subtle & Satirical Humor is Effective Here

[larrys3 · 8/10 · 15 November 2019]

The laid back subtle and satirical humor is mostly effective here. Somehow, Sameh Zoab, director and co-writer with Don Kleinman, pulls it off despite all the political turmoil that has encased the region for so long now.

The acting is first rate as well, and I thought the surprise and clever ending enhanced the movie. Overall, quite the engaging surprise with its positive message.

VERY FUNNY, despite underwhelming lead performance

[dlsaltzberg · 9/10 · 22 July 2019]

Feels like an honest, but funny, take on the Arab/Israeli conflict--which I never thought I would see. A Palestinian ordinary-Yusef, Salam, starts as a go-fer at a "explosive" soap opera filmed in Ramallah (film in-joke), and ends up as screenwriter and creative force on the show, causing both mayhem and closure for the surrounding people: the talented but egotistical diva; the Israeli captain of the West Bank checkpoint Salam has to travel through twice daily; the producers of the soap opera; the girl Salam hopes to woo and win; the family of the Israeli captain. The Israeli government helped produce this film, but allowed a realistic look at the indignities a Palestinian might undergo in Israel--modern-day, or back when this film is set, both before and after the Six-Day War. The only flaw, in my opinion, is the portrayal of Salam. He is wooden and inexpressive. Yes, he's handsome; yes, he seems charismatic; but he rarely smiles, and he speaks in a monotone. The fact that I couldn't stop laughing, despite the boring protagonist, is proof that this film is funny.

Really good comedy about politics and soap opera

[filipino-66032 · 8/10 · 24 June 2019]

I really enjoyed this movie. I was laughing all over the cinema. The idea of this movie was great, the actors were good, story was good and ending was hilarious. I really recommend this movie for all comedy fans.

A soap opera of a soap opera

[chong_an · 8/10 · 10 September 2018]

Salam's uncle is the producer of Tel Aviv on Fire, a spy thriller / soap opera aimed at Palestinians but the show is also popular with Israelis (especially women). Salam is hired as dialect coach, but gets promoted to writer after his meddling causes the chief writer to quit. Salam tries to draw on family and friends for inspiration, but falls under the influence of the commander of the checkpoint he has to cross twice daily. The commander helps with script ideas, but pushes for the show to become more pro-Israeli. Meanwhile, his uncle, and the show's backers, have other ideas, trying to deal with their own trauma of Palestinian losses due to the six-day war.

This is an amusing yarn, with Salam being pulled in all directions by people with different agendas, while trying to fill a script and chasing a girl. Good lightweight entertainment from a film with a Palestine / Israel location.

Easy watching on a serious subject

[nyccents · 8/10 · 4 August 2019]

A fairly lighthearted but insightful look at life of the middle-class in Jerusalem and Ramallah-- as seen by having a Palestinian screenwriter who lives in Jerusalem travel to work in Ramallah and his daily interactions with the Israeli border-patrol chief..

The film is a little slow, and the main character is made out to be a little too dull, however on the whole the film has a charm and addresses a subject rarely broached. It's an interestingly balanced portrayal of the people on both sides caught in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As characters in this film, both the Israeli soldiers and the Palestinian film makers are more human than political agents, and yet both are rooted in their respective historical contexts making it hard to get to the next level of cooperation with each other. The film plays around with alternate narratives.

The film writer/director is actually an Israeli Palestinian, giving the film much authenticity.

Palestinian nebbish collaborates in screenwriting wth Israeli captain

[maurice_yacowar · 9/10 · 19 April 2019]

In Ramallah a contemporary Palestinian TV crew produce a popular soap opera in which the characters set out to change the historic record of the Six Days War of 1967. A Parisian Arab star Tala plays a spy who goes undercover to seduce the Israeli commander, planning to steal his plans for Israel's surprise attack. History did not then set Tel Aviv on fire but this popular TV drama would. This film is a light-handed but thoughtful examination of the myths and fictions that drive both sides in that conflicted area. The Israelis and the Palestinians cling to their respective histories, which define their present perceptions and impede their warmer human connections. This is most explicitly dramatized in the debate over whether the TV drama should conclude with a marriage between the spy and the Israeli soldier, now in love with each other. That would allow for another season of drama, salaries, and work, but at the cost of political integrity. Or will the bride blow up the (camouflaged church) synagogue? Spoiler alert: at least in this fiction the inner fiction opts for life over death. As in myths, the end is latent in the beginning. In an early scene the cast and writer argue over whether calling a beautiful woman "explosive" is romantic. The film also traces the maturing of the hero Salam, an unpromising fumbler who draws a menial salary by making coffee for his producer uncle, when he isn't stumbling into sets. When Salam tells the border crossing captain Assi he's a screenwriter his lie gradually turns into a truth. That's what myths do. The Israeli drafts scenes for him, in hopes of impressing his wife, sister and mother, who are enrapt at the drama. Their partnership cracks over the classic distinction between "terrorist" and "freedom fighter." For all their mutual help Assi's seizure of Salam's ID card is a harsh reminder of their imbalance in power and the danger beneath the present charm. As Salam gains confidence and starts attending to the conversations around him and his own feelings and impulses, he starts to write scenes himself. As he outgrows the Israeli's control he lives out the history of a colonized people growing into independence. As Israel did in 1948. His new talent and career also win him the girl he loves and earlier lost. He wins her by replaying on screen the sentiments he awkwardly tried to express in life. Art amends the failures in life, as the Palestinians hoped their '67 war rewrite would do. Captain Assi initially requires Salem to bring him the esteemed Palestinian hummous. Here the drama alludes to the fervid debate over who invented that delicacy, Israel or the Palestinians. Here it's advantage Palestine as Assi rhapsodizes over a junk hummous Salam concocts out of canned hummous long past its shelf life. For the men's climactic reconciliation Salem brings him to the best. Both warring cultures in the audience may bristle at the odd line, or find a historic nit to pick. But the overall warmth and charm should prevail. Among the various international sources of funding for this project, the Israeli government's film support looms significant.

Can make fun of everything

[slaithier · 9/10 · 9 April 2019]

The greatness of this movie is that it shows how it is possible to make fun of almost everything, as long as it is clever. I really had a great moment with this fun movie which, by the way, shows us how difficult it can be to be a palestinian living in its own homeland. Quoting the movie about how great can be Paris, France : "And above all, it is not occupied !". This movie is able to make us laugh and provides a fun ending which balances nicely the depiction of an impossible cohabitation of two opposite peoples.

Very funny but fantasy

[robinfadams · 8/10 · 11 February 2019]

Saw this film at the UK Jewish Film festival in November 2018 and it is very funny and hope it gets some releases. But in fact Israelis and Palestinians unfortunately do not watch each other's TV stations. Cable doesn't carry them and each other's satellites are 3 degrees apart but that's enough not to allow mutual reception. So the central idea of the film is fantasy, but it's very enjoyable.

I bet that a lot of people have to go through this every day

[lee_eisenberg · 8/10 · 3 November 2021]

Luxembourg's submission to the Academy Awards as for Best Foreign Language Film (not nominated) portrays the trials and tribulations of an Israeli Arab screenwriter who has to pass through a checkpoint to work on a TV show in Ramallah. "Tel Aviv on Fire" doesn't feature anything shocking, but does show what the Palestinians have to go through in their travels, even as the protagonist becomes acquainted with an Israeli officer who starts contributing to the script. Even as the two of them interact more and more, the facts on the ground remain the same.

It's probably not the sort of movie that'll change your life or anything, but it certainly gives us some insight into the lives of these different populations, and in particular shows us what the Palestinians have to go through each day (although I doubt that anyone outside of Palestine can truly understand what it's like for them). Worth seeing.

PS: Nadim Sawalha (Bassem) is the father of Julia Sawalha, who played Saffron on "Absolutely Fabulous".

Fresh humour and spoof

[tomnprestin · 8/10 · 13 December 2018]

It's really hilarious...it deals political content in very humourous way..it spoof some soap operas..every single characters have life to their role... specially the main protagonists..it's not a stereotype movie...it breaks into new level of humour... script with some really good imagination. The theatre which i saw were absolutely laughing in all moments

Excellent !

[sandrinelegrand · 9/10 · 13 April 2019]

Tres drole et emouvant. Beaucoup d'humour a double sens ! A voir !

Finally a lightweight drama that passes beyond differences

[dina_181 · 9/10 · 21 April 2019]

No taking sides; realistic and funny. Nicely put together with all the actors and the setting . I really enjoyed it

Must watch!

[mazenchami · 10/10 · 5 August 2019]

Great movie that'll make you laugh! Well written story line

Salam in Love

[Minnesota_Reid · 8/10 · 6 April 2019]

This is a fun movie that bounces right along. The hero is a writer on a Palestinian soap opera set during the lead up to the Six Day War of 1967. He is short on experience and ideas, and starts getting help from overheard conversations and other unexpected sources. At the same time, he is subjected to conflicting pressures from various source -- how to keep them all happy? I found it to be a charming entry to the genre of struggling script writers, from 'Sweet Liberty' and 'Shakespeare in Love' to the more recent 'Their Finest'.

A Very Entertaining Little and Funny Film

[johnsmallshaw · 10/10 · 27 March 2020]

It has been said that comedy doesn't cross cultures very well, but this one certainly does. Tackling a very difficult subject, it is funny and well paced. We enjoyed this film as an antidote to being house bound due to the corona virus lock down. The ending is quite a surprise!

Entertaining low budget film

[qui_j · 8/10 · 18 February 2020]

This is an entertaining film that deals with the Israeli occupation of Palestine in a very satirical way. You do have to understand the culture and reality of the situation but it is not the focus of the film, other than to provide some context to the humor. The acting isn't great and the editing leaves a lot to be desired but it's a good effort. Maybe the next production will be more professional and polished.

A very funny comedy that shows not everything has to be political

[clivy · 8/10 · 21 June 2023]

I came across Tel Aviv on Fire on Netflix and knew instantly I wanted to watch it. I was delighted by the premise of a Palestinian soap opera writer churning out melodrama with the help of his unlikely collaborator the Israeli checkpoint officer. The scenes of the soap "Tel Aviv on Fire" are hilariously over the top. I laughed when another reviewer mentioned the "pathetic" Young and the Restless as an example of the genre: I'm a big fan of American schlockfests such as the Young and the Restless' sister soap the Bold and the Beautiful which also features terrible acting and outlandish plotlines. I also loved Sunset Beach which made fun of itself, daytime drama and popular culture. I enjoyed seeing the portrayals of daily life for the main characters particularly Salam, his girlfriend Mariam and her father who owns a local shop. As the Israeli fans of the soap within the film say, not everything has to be political. The dark turn when Assi has Salam kidnapped and then threatens him with a gun lets the film down. I wanted like Salam for the story to avoid cliche, and I really hoped that Salam and Assi would become friends as well as script writing collaborators, while Rachel and Yehuda ("his name is Yehuda" snorts Assi: the word for "Jew" in Arabic is Al Yehudi, and Yehuda in Hebrew also means "the people of Israel" ) would marry and find peace and happiness together. I wasn't convinced that Assi could so easily become an actor on Palestinian television, but I see that the film found a way to suggest that while the Israeli and Palestinian characters continued to struggle on TV there might be a way forward to peace and understanding in reality. I came to the film as a supporter of Israel. I appreciated the scenes revealing life from the Palestinian point of view: having to go through checkpoints, the checking of IDs, not being able to travel easily. I also appreciated the view of Palestinian life from ordinary people running shops and working in hospitals as well as the international diva and the crew of the TV company and its sets which look tiny and pokey in comparison to American productions. I wish Tel Aviv on Fire showed more Israeli characters aside from the hammy Assi. But overall it does a fine job showing the people and the lives behind the headlines and sending up the melodramatizing of history into the Struggle. I'm looking forward to seeing Tel Aviv on Fire come back for a sequel.