The Bubble

Whether Eytan Fox meant to make the 21st -century Brokeback Tel Aviv to show that not only in 1960's America do the gay die young and/or maimed and the straight survive, such would seem to be the theme of The Bubble, his new and passionate Israeli film touching on Israeli-Arab relations; sexual mores in the Middle East; and Tel Aviv residents' "bubble" life, more secure and stable than that of most other Israelis.

Co-written by Fox and Gal Uchovsky, who previously collaborated brilliantly on 2004's Walk on Water-- also directed by  Fox--the film  evokes a city where three roommates, two men and a woman, can be anti-war activists and pro-Palestinian advocates who promote "waves" for peace without seeming to be creatures from another planet, Tel Aviv being some degrees removed from the constant carnage and fear felt by most Israelis. The roommates, Lulu, a boutique worker and very heterosexual (Daniella Wircer); Noam, a gay weekend Guardsman and weekday store clerk (Ohad Knoller, star of the Fox-directed 2002 well-received  Yossi and Jagger ); and Yali, a campy cafe manager quietly in love with Noam (Alon Friedmann), have their lives changed when, after a brief weekend encounter between the Guardsman Noam and a young Arab, Ashraf (Yousef "Joe'' Sweid), at an Israeli border crossing, Ashraf finds his way to Tel Aviv and professes his love to Noam, who soon reciprocates ("so that's how Arabs do it"). The friends decide to hide Ashraf in the apartment and help to give him a new Israeli identity as an employee of Yali's cafe. What follows is the intersection of real life and the ideal unfolding of young love. Just as Lulu has trouble finding a romantic partner who will really commit to a relationship, Noam and Ashraf become mired in the political maelstrom of Israeli-Arab tensions when Ashraf's sister's wedding celebration in the West Bank ends in tragedy caused by Israeli soldiers. Ashraf, who has been found out as gay by his new brother-in-law, is sucked into the vortex of violence and hate with cataclysmic results.

Fox handles his political and social points tactfully and lightly, nary a cudgel in sight. Using beautifully photograhed flashbacks, for instance, he shows how Ashraf and Noam might once have grown up as near-neighbors in Jerusalem's ethnicly-divided neighborhoods. Tel Aviv is presented credibly as a city apart --who knew there was a Time Out Tel Aviv? The sexual encounters, while graphic, are not salacious and emphasize tenderness and blossoming affection. One scene, showing the lovers watching the play Bent, set in a concentration camp for homosexuals, while affecting, is a little bit of overkill.

Withal, Eytan Fox has imagined and re-created with subtlety and passion a world where black and white are in constant contest with gray. Would that white could sometimes win, he seems wistfully to wish.

                                                           Howard Buck