Big Screen/Small Screen
Shuttle Chatter
Documentary gives voice to Palestinian moderates.
"Ford Transit": Viewers will have the rare opportunity to eavesdrop on conversations
among West Bank Palestinians riding in a minivan between Ramallah and
Jerusalem.
MICHAEL FOX
Special to the Jewish News
I
f the moderates are indeed being
edged out of the Israeli-Palestinian
dispute by the extremists, as the
New York Time/Thomas Friedman frets,
Ford Transit may represent one of our
last chances to hear from them.
As if there's much likelihood of the
torrent of documentaries from the
Mideast subsiding anytime soon.
Only peace and prosperity on both
sides will bring that about. Until that
happy day, it is assuredly more comfort-
ing to hear the frustrated yet reasoned
opinions of educated Palestinians than
the angry threats of Hamas members.
The first-rate Ford Transit hitches a -
ride with Rajai, a resourceful and fearless
Palestinian who drives one of a slew of
former Israeli police cars now employed
as taxis between Jerusalem and
Ramallah.
In another life, Rajai would have led
wagon trains across the plains or run
hooch during Prohibition.
Passengers board and exit, some shar-
ing their articulate views en route. These
people are generally better off than the
average Palestinian. After all, they aren't
riding the bus.
Ford Transit never ceases to be enter-
taining, partly because director Hany
Abu-Assad flaunts one of the cardinal
rules of documentary: Some bits are
scripted and staged, and not all the pas-
sengers are random.
Occasionally, it's obvious; other times,
less so. For example, the elegant
Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi (a
familiar face from several documentaries
made in the last decade about the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict) turns up on Rajai's
van. This, we conclude, as she addresses
the camera while he speeds down the
highway, can't be a coincidence.
While it's possible that Abu-Assad
(who's resided in the Netherlands for
many years) wrote some of the passen-
gers' "lines," I chose to accept every bit
of commentary as an authentic point of
view.
That includes the man who asserts,
"[The Israelis] should no longer see
themselves as victims. They were once
victims; no one denies that. But not
today." And the woman who declares,
"It's all a mess. We're all bunglers."
Many of the speakers weigh in on sui-
cide bombing, which was a pandemic
when the film was being made, with the
majority clearly opposed. But they are
even more vehemently opposed to Israeli
restrictions and policies.
"They want to make us the new
Indians," says one man. "They'll put us
in reservations like Indians and won't
care anymore."
Such sentiments shouldn't come as a
surprise, but anyone with an interest in
Israel's future would be well served to
hear points of view that are not com-
monly transmitted by the American
electronic media.
One measure of its relevance is that
Ford Transit is one of the most widely
seen recent films on "the situation," hav-
ing screened at dozens of festivals
around the world in the last year and a
half. Among its many prizes, it received
the Spirit of Freedom Award at the
Jerusalem Film Festival.
Some, though certainly not all, of its
popularity may have accrued from the
fact that several of the passengers take
pot shots at George W. Bush and his
posture vis-a-vis the Israelis and
Palestinians.
Ford Transit includes just one non-
Palestinian speaker, the Jewish filmmak-
er B.Z. Goldberg, who co-directed the
Academy Award-nominated documen-
tary Promises. The respect between Abu-
Assad and Goldberg is tangible, and
some viewers will want to take comfort
from their conversation.
Alas, as Tom Friedman might point
out, it isn't the artists on both sides who
are the impediments to the peace
process.
❑
Ford Transit receives its U.S. tele-
vision premiere 9 p.m. Monday,
Oct. 25, on the Sundance
Channel. It also airs 12 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 26, and 10 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 30. Check your
local cable listings.
4, •
Dose Of (Animated) Reality
"Drawn Togethen" like "South Park," is another slightly raunchy offeringfrom Comedy Central.
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
The duo previously wrote for several
programs that were critically acclaimed
but widely ignored: The Man Show,
A
Action, Gregg the Bunny, Andy Richter
Controls the Universe and Crank Yankers.
All were canceled after brief runs. Their
biggest success was with 3rd Rock From
the Sun, a show that lasted seven seasons
and won a few Emmys.
Prior to their writing careers, they
worked in production and did some
standup.
Drawn Together follows eight com-
pletely different cartoon characters from
various lifestyles as they live together in a
house and have their lives filmed while
trying to interact and get along. Sticking
to the successful reality TV format,
someone is voted out of the house each
week.
The housemates include Captain
couple of young Jewish men
from New Jersey are adhering to
the old adage: If at first you
don't succeed, try and try again.
For if the current success of animated
and reality shows on television holds
sway, they might just succeed this time
with their new, anything-goes creation
for cable. It all depends on how much
reality viewers can take.
Matt Silverstein, 32, and Dave Jeser,
31, who went to Los Angeles in the late
1990s to seek their fortune in TV, are
the creators and executive producers of
Drawn Together, TV's first animated
reality series. The first of eight episodes
premieres 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.
27, on cable's Comedy Central.
10/22
2004
72
N\P!
Hero, a not-so-moral
do-gooder; Clara, a
sweet, young and naive
fairy-tale princess;
Foxxy Love, a sexy
musician; Spanky
Ham, a foul-mouthed
Internet pig; Ling-
Ling, an Asian trading
card creature;
The cast of "Drawn Togethen" with Toots Braunstein at
Wooldoor-Sockbat, a
wacky watchamacallit;
first episode that even the creators don't
Xandir, a young adventurer; and Toot
understand.
Braunstein, a black-and-white heart-
"The humor is aimed at our peer age
throb from the 1920s — and the only
group,
but we think even middle-aged
semblance of a Jewish character on the
women
will like it," said Silverstein from
show.
his
L.A.
office. "At least we feel it's
The outrageous goings-on include
funny.
Remember,
there's no regulation
fighting, backstabbing, profanity, urina-
on
cable;
just
about
anything goes — as
tion, defecation, lesbian kissing and a
long
as
it's
not
real
lewd
or crude." (The
big battle in the house at the end of the