Laila’s Birthday, Flame & Citron

A lot of people think that attending a film festival is all fun and games. That is not true! There is a lot of hard work involved.

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Let me give you an example. Your day usually starts at 6:00 o'clock in the morning. You have to wake up; get ready for the long day ahead; battle your way through rush hour traffic; and get downtown by 8:30 a.m. If your first film begins at 9:00 a.m., you should just make it in time for the doors to open and to beat the crowds, which usually show up about five or ten minutes before the screening. Then you have to watch the film. Many times the film will be a disappointment. You can leave early or you can stay in your seat and hope that it will get better. It rarely does. When you get out of the screening, you often have to get back into a line for the next screening. This goes on all day, every day. If you're lucky, you may have an hour or two to grab a snack or to meet some film people. Sometimes you have the opportunity to go to a party after the day's screenings are over. But that often means staying up until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. And what happens at most of these parties? The "stars" usually don't show up until late and they are often shuffled off to a back room for a private dinner. Everybody else stands around and schmoozes. Then the next morning, it's up at 6:00 a.m. And it all begins all over again. Exciting, isn't it? Actually it is, because every once in a while you come across a film that excites you. At the moment I've seen over 20 films and, and except for the two I've already reported on, there have only been a handful that have caught my interest. The first one that really caught my attention was a small film called Laila's Birthday, a film that is listed as originating in Palestine, Tunisia and The Netherlands. The film is really "A Day in the Life of .....". In this case, it is a day in the life of Abu Laila, a judge who was asked to return to Palestine, but who has been reduced to driving a taxi for a living. Despite this, he dresses in a suit, has an emblem on his windshield that prohibits weapons being brought into his vehicle, and insists on enforcing all the laws in his cab--such as no smoking and insisting people riding in the passenger seat put on their seatbelts. This in a society where the rule of law doesn't exist and where the laws are looked at as a joke. The film is a delight. It is funny and ironic, as Abu Laila tries to make it through the day without getting into any trouble and avoiding anything from delaying his return home, because today is his daughter's birthday. It's a lovely and gentle little film that doesn't get too much into politics and takes gentle pokes at peoples' foibles. Mohamed Bakri, an Arab actor from Israel, stars as the film's main protagonist. And by coincidence, I met Bakri the following day. The Toronto Jewish Film Festival had it's annual Matzo Ball on Friday night.T his is a small party where the Festival serves chicken soup and has a Sabbath candle lighting and anyone attending TIFF is invited to attend. Bakri showed up at the Matzo Ball and we had an opportunity to talk to him about the film and about his career. He was very happy and proud to have this film invited to TIFF and felt it showed a side of Palestinian life that few people could imagine. Another film that excited me was a Danish film called Flame & Citron. Not many people are aware that Denmark had a very active resistance to the German occupation during World War II. Although Denmark had its own Nazi movement, most Danes opposed the German occupation and were vehemently opposed to the Nazi doctrines. They organized a resistance movement that created many problems for the Nazis. And it was the resistance movement that organized the exodus of the entire Jewish population just before the Germans were about to round up the Jews and ship them to concentration camps. This film deals with the latter stages of the resistance and with the attempts by two members of that resistance to assassinate any Danes who collaborated with the Nazis. The film highlights the moral issues of killing people and the question of who has the authority to issue such orders and then carry them out. It is an excellent film and is certain to be one of the hits of the Toronto International Film Festival this year. It is based on true events, and anyone visiting Copenhagen should not miss the opportunity to tour the Resistance Museum, which is located in the heart of the city. It tells an amazing story that few people know about and which this film is bound to bring a wider audience.