“West Bank” Oscars

My Interview w/ Deranged Filmmaker Ari Sandel

By Debbie Schlussel

Will the Academy Awards ever stop sympathizing with Islamic terrorists?

Given recent history–and one of its chosen nominees for Sunday’s Oscars show–that’s doubtful.

This year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated “West Bank Story” for Best Live Action Short Film.

A take-off on the movie musical classic, “West Side Story,” “West Bank Story” reduces unprovoked Islamic terrorism against innocent, mostly Jewish civilians to a Jets versus Sharks feud, solved with dancing, singing, and hummus. If only it were that simple.

But it isn’t. In “West Bank Story,” the entire conflict is a matter of feuding kosher and Palestinian falafel restaurants. The entire conflict is solved after 20 minutes of musical numbers and hummus-eating. Apparently, filmmaker Ari Sandel hasn’t been paying attention to what really goes on in falafel shops–and behind Israel’s green line, not just the West Bank. CONTINUE

February 23, 2007 | 2 Comments »

2 Comments / 2 Comments

  1. Latifa, by Moshe Smilanksy short story written in 1906, about an Israeli boy and Palestinian girl who talk about marriage, 4 pages long but better than a movie. That’s the real west bank story, I think it explains the Israeli Palestinian conflict in a four page love story.

    Here is something about the story and author minus another detail, (spoiler alert), Latifa has been married to an older man who beats her and when she runs away, her father forces her to return to the violent husband.

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