A major award winner on this year’s festival circuit including one in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes, The Band’s Visit is a thorough going charmer, and it’s not difficult to see why audiences worldwide have responded with such enthusiasm.
A small Egyptian police band come to Israel in the early 1990’s to perform in an Arab cultural centre, but somehow end up in the wrong town on the wrong night in the middle of nowhere.
They are rescued by the proprietress of the local café who arranges accommodation for them around town.
Each successive billet brings an unusual encounter between very different people who for a night, come together and learn something new about their own lives and each other.
As well as gentle humour and perfect characterisation, what strikes one the most about the film is its absolute humanity, it is that rarefied thing, a thoroughly entertaining film which also have the emotional range to provoke both tears and laughter.
