Ajami (2009)

November is catch up on last years Oscar and Golden Globe nominees month. Usually at this point the foreign films are finally out on dvd and finishing the ballot is actually possible without going to the theater for 3 days straight.

This film taking place in Israel is one of the most depressing I have seen all year. The story follows a small community and the series of disasters that lead to several deaths and some destroyed lives. Told in a disjointed fashion and in 5 chapters we hop around in time [which is hard to follow on foreign films because you have to keep track of people's faces as well as just reading the subtitles].

Another sad film showing that this region will never be stable because the culture does not allow for religious freedom and understanding. I'm not sure if it made a clear point, and just left me with the feeling of "wow, that sucks..."

For a foreign nominee it could have been worse, and it was actually pretty memorable. All cultures have strange rules and laws but the sequence that will make me remember the film is this. Man busts into a restaurant, shoots the ceiling a couple times demanding money, cook shoots him out of reaction to shots in the front room, family of dead gunman then shoot the cook, then kill a neighbor boy in an attempt to kill the cooks brother. The cooks family now has to pay the gunman's mafia family $50,000 US in 1 month time or they will kill the whole family. Did I mention this was the sum decided in a religious courtroom? It was just nutty. The need to get this money is what leads to what I consider a series of unfortunate events.

Interesting to say the least, very sad film...

Vote: 7/10

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1077262/

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