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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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 Posted - 01/11/2013 : 11:49:39
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Finally caught up with this totally engaging unique take on the buddy/road movie by solid Israeli director Eran Riklis.
Zaytoun is Arabic for olive. A potted olive tree is a visual touchstone throughout carried by 12-year-old Abdallah El Akal.
Yep, we got ourselves another amazing performance by a kid - this one with six years of film career already behind him.
As Fahed, he's probably got the greatest acting challenge in the film, but wonderfully paired with Stephen Dorff [Stu Sutcliffe in Backbeat]. These two lead us on a witty, moving and enlightening journey through the war-torn years of the Beirut conflict.
Though shot in Israel, Riklis has recreated the landscape of the border country, and more especially the contrast between the city of Beirut and its ghetto/camp for Palestians. These comprise armed rebels who exploit children and train them in what's referred to as "terrorist school."
The scenery may sometimes be stunning, but the lives of the people are pathetic in their deprivation and poverty - of possessions and of spirit.
Fahed emerges as an exuberant life force. Trying to be true to his family expectations, he's hardly equipped to handle some of the adult responsibilities thrust on him by rebel leaders who use kids to fill the gaps in their fragile force.
So, yes, Fahed has access to guns and rifles. He's cleverer than he's made out to his elders, and becomes a local hero when he shoots down an attacking Israeli plane on a bombing mission.
It's Yoni, the Israeli pilot whom the kids capture, who becomes first their prisoner and then Fahed's companion. Fahed's determined to get back to his Palestinian village and plant the precious olive tree as he promised his dying grandfather. Yoni needs to get back to base.
How they decide to help each other and the relationship they develop along the way keeps us watching. But this personal tale has deep resonance.
The history of the conflict is public record, and it's not a pretty one.
But stories like this remind us that if we eschew the manipulations of those in power who rely on us to do their dirty work, if we can do that and recover a sense of humanity, then there might be some hope. And that well-travelled olive tree might once more bear fruit.
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Zaytoun
