By Jack Forman
LA JOLLA, California — Two of the most appealing and expressive pre-teen Israeli girls you will ever meet are the focus of this film portrait screened on February 8 as part of the 2015 Jewish Film Festival. Almost Friends highlights the pitfalls and the promises of trying to break down cultural and religious barriers between Jewish and Arab Israelis to create an environment where personal friendship can take hold and grow between the two groups.
Samar, a 12-year old Arab Israeli girl lives with her mother in a densely-populated apartment building in Lod, a multicultural, economically-disadvantaged urban suburb of Tel Aviv. She attends a secular public school with Jewish and other Arab classmates who are Muslim or Christian.
Some 42 miles away, 11-year old Linor lives in a religious moshav in Tlamim, located in south central Israel and attends school with other Jewish classmates in her community.
Despite the relative proximity of Lod and Tlamim in Israel – 42 miles separate the two communities — there is a world of difference between them.
The two girls meet first online after Linor selected Samar as a pen pal in a program set up by their schools, and despite their different backgrounds, they immediately find they have a lot in common – a great interest in music and writing and an expansiveness of spirit. But after they email each other initially they both find resistance from their families when they express an interest in being friends. In particular, Linor’s grandmother is very negative about allowing a friendship to develop, partly because Samar is not Jewish and partly because she has very negative, stereotypical views of Arabs.
“If a Jew sees an Arab dying, he’ll help him; if an Arab sees a Jew dying he won’t help him”, she tells Linor. Her grandmother also believes there is and always has been a “sting” between Jews and Arabs. Linor’s mother is less negative but still does not encourage her daughter to pursue the friendship beyond being a pen pal. (Her father does not play a role in the film.)
Although Samar’s mother is less discouraging, her father who lives in the West Bank is quietly resistant to Samar becoming a friend to a Jew.
Despite a promising and hopeful beginning, the friendship between the two girls is stymied and eventually is not allowed to develop.
The camera closeups of Linor’s and Samar’s lively and animated faces are involving and revealing and help to humanize both girls and keep viewers engaged in the film despite the film’s disappointing narrative of a failed friendship.
It should be noted that the film was produced by the Heymann Brothers in Israel, who have distributed many other highly praised documentary films representing the political left in Israel. Almost Friends has also been promoted by The Other Israel Film Festival, which showcases “the human stories and daily lives of Arab citizens and other minority groups in Israel often overlooked by mainstream Israeli society and culture” (www.otherisrael.org ) .
Samar’s and Linor’s appealing persona make this film a success on a personal level. As a political statement, however, it’s not as believable because one is left with the impression that if only Linor’s family were more supportive of the friendship, everything would have been fine. By not being as critical of Samar’s family resistance, the film leaves a misleading impression.
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Forman is a Mesa College librarian and a freelance writer who focuses on literature and movies. Your signed comment may be posted in the space below or sent to jack.forman@sdjewishworld.com