Ha Buah

Last night we went to see the new Eytan Fox film, Ha Buah (The Bubble). The openly gay Israeli has produced two of my favorite films, Walk On Water and Yossi & Jagger. Ha Buah is definitely on par but much more complex.

Imagine, if you will, that you are an Israeli in Tel Aviv in love with a Palestinian in Nablus. Now imagine both are men. Sticky, yes? Nachon? Thats the setup for this film.

Noam (Ohad Knoller, Yossi from Yossi & Jagger) is the Israeli stationed at a checkpoint which is where he meets the Palestinian, Ashraf (Joe Sweid, Rafik from Walk On Water). They begin a heated relationship in Tel Aviv, Ashraf illegally living in Israel pretending to be an Israeli. While Noam's roomates Lulu and Yeli help to conceal Ashraf's identity, the situation becomes plagued with unconcealable, ugly regional realities. The ending of this movie is very Romeo and Juliet but it will touch you and leave you with many things to ponder.

Some critics said Fox was trying to cram too much into this movie. I disagree. I think the architecture of the film is quite simple. The Bubble for me refers to tension and isolation in various forms. Tel Aviv in a bubble from the rest of Israel. A gay Arab in a bubble from the rest of his community. An Israeli girl in a bubble of naivety. Love in a bubble from hate. Isolation begets tension, tension begets isolation. Its a vicious cycle until the bubble is popped. I think that was Fox's point, we go through enormous effort to keep our bubbles intact, sometimes to our own demise.



Filming of some of the scenes, particularly the sex scenes, is tastefully done; creative and artful. The violent scenes are filmed abstractly but they leave no doubt as to the fact that it has occurred.

Acting is good, particularly by Joe Sweid, who seems to building a career out of playing the gay Palestinian.

Distribution of Ha Buah in the states is very limited but if it plays in your city I hope you take the time to see it. It goes beyond regional, religious and sexual orientation boundaries.

Ha Buah
9/10