Charming Sleeper Gem
Added 12/6/2000
I first saw this wonderful film at the San Jose Film Festival several years ago. The poster looked endearing; I figured, even if the film was not, I could slip out unnoticed and see one of the thousand or so other films and shorts playing at the same time.Well, that didn't happen. The acting was marvelous; the visuals sumptuous; the editing tight; the humor uproarious. I came in for a snack and left sated -- as if I had eaten a multi-course meal. Without reservation, The Flying Camel was the gem of the festival. Needless to say, I loved every minute of The Flying Camel. So, I went home and convinced my wife, Anna, to experience it all over again with me later that same night -- at the only other showing during the film festival. And it was a good thing I did: Anna loved it, too, and I loved it even more the second time around -- and . . . we never saw it playing in our area again. This film does more to relieve Middle-East tensions than the whole caboodle of Camp David Accords. The story is timeless: three people (an Arab, a Jew and a Catholic nun) from vastly different walks of life find themselves thrown together in a Holy Land gone mad. At first somewhat suspicious of one another, they ultimately discover that they have much more in common than their differences. Finally, in one madcap, larcenous, climactic misadventure, Arab, Jew and Catholic nun join forces to liberate -- from an unsuspecting falafel vendor -- the missing piece (The Flying Camel) of a triumphal public sculpture created several decades earlier by the Arab's sculptor father so they can raise it from its ashes in the salvage yard owned by the Jew. It saddens me to see how thoroughly neglected this film has been since its release. I was certain that, after the exposure it received at the San Jose Film Festival, at least the local art houses would pick it up (selfishly, because I wanted to see it again) -- well, no such luck. And, if it is only now being released to the video rental market, then this charming little gem of a sleeper -- like its namesake, The Flying Camel -- has languished in obscurity much too long. Rent it, you'll like it. Buy it, and you can see it over and over again. You'll be glad you did. PS -- Anna says it would make a wonderful gift for the film connoisseur on your Christmas List. Wink, wink!
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