Joseph Silberg (played by French-born actor Jules Sitruk, who had to improve his Hebrew and learn to play guitar for this role) is a young Israeli Jew in the process of joining the military. When his blood test raises questions, it leads to the discovery that he was mistakenly switched shortly after his birth in Haifa during a missile attack. His real birth family is Palestinian.
Eventually he searches out his other family and he becomes friends with Yacine (played by Medhi Debhi). Mahmud Shalaby portrays Bilal, the angry brother of Yacine. This actor has been in a number of interesting films. I'll review some of them in the near future.
Orith, Joseph's mother (played by the lovely French actress Emmanuelle Devos)
It's the modern and Middle-Eastern version of The Prince and the Pauper with powerful political overtones. It raises important questions like: Are you the faith of your original birth family or of the faith you've been raised in? Where do your loyalties lie?
What I also found very interesting about this film is that it had multiple languages: English, Hebrew, Arabic and French! Both families have French connections. It's an interesting point for the story because both knew some English and French, so they were able to communicate despite the fact that neither family spoke each other's traditional languages (Hebrew & Arabic).
It's also interesting to not that there seems to be many connections in many ways between Israeli, Palestinian and French Culture.
This film has some absolutely gorgeous shots in it too!! Great plot, acting and visual artistry make The Other Son an interesting, pleasurable and thought-provoking film to watch.
The director Lorraine Levy claimed to have been greatly influenced by the Israeli writer Amos Oz. Without the use of multiple languages, it probably wouldn't have been possible to shoot this film.
Here are some quotes from the film:
Joseph's conversation with military in-take:
"Hashish?"
"No."
"How often?"
"Tell me the truth, Joseph."
"Now and again."
"What's 'now and again'? Every day? Once a week?"
"Yeah, once a week or so. I'd rather my parents didn't know."
*********
"As you see, our villages are still imprisoned and our lands cut in two. A curse on those who stole from us!"---Bilal to his brother Yacine while they drive back to their home.
"No, he's an engineer. Only he's not allowed to work outside his village."---Yacine talking about his Palestinian father.
"I might have been a jerk like you obsessed with clubs and clothes."---Yacine to Joseph.
"Well, thanks to this jerk you won't look like a hick in front of Yona. ---Joseph to Yacine.
"Look. Isaac and Ishmael. Abraham's two children."----Yacine as he looked at himself and Joseph in the mirror.
"If I had died, would I have been buried as a Jew or an Arab?"---Yacine, from his hospital bed.
Some Quotes from the featurette:
"Family is the microcosm of the genesis of who we are."---Lorraine Levy, director of The Other Son.
"Adults are just children who earn money."---quote by Kenneth Branagh, repeated by Lorraine Levy.
"She made this because you're here. Eat.---Bilal to Joseph at the dinner table, indicating the Arabic customs concerning food.
Here are some scenes:
Here is the official trailer:
