Ajami (2009)

97% of critics liked it
(64 reviews)
78% of users liked it
(6,504 ratings)

Palestinian Scandar Copti and Israeli Yaron Shani collaborated on this independent drama, which examines how the troubled relationship between their countries colors everyday life in the Middle East. Nasri (Fouad Habash) is a teenager whose family is in crisis: his uncle got into an altercation with… More Palestinian Scandar Copti and Israeli Yaron Shani collaborated on this independent drama, which examines how the troubled relationship between their countries colors everyday life in the Middle East. Nasri (Fouad Habash) is a teenager whose family is in crisis: his uncle got into an altercation with a local crime boss, and in reprisal, his cousin has been murdered. The shooters, it seems, originally intended to kill Nasri's younger brother, Omar (Shahir Kabaha), in lieu of the cousin. Abu Elias (Youssef Sahwani), a restaurateur and respected member of the community, steps in to negotiate. Omar agrees to make a cash payment to the gangsters to prevent further violence, but since he doesn't have the money, he raises it by dealing drugs. Abu has a daughter, Hadir (Ranin Karim), who works at his restaurant; she's fallen in love with Omar, but since she's Christian and he's Muslim, they can't acknowledge their feelings in public. Also working at the restaurant is Malek (Ibrahim Frege), a 16-year-old illegal immigrant who is looking for any kind of job to help pay for his mother's medical treatments. And elsewhere, Dando (Eran Naim) is a policeman drawn into the chaotic life of Binj (Scandar Copti), a suspected drug dealer who has been arrested for attacking a Jewish neighbor; Dando is also preoccupied with the fate of his brother, who has suddenly gone missing. Ajami won a special distinction award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr.
Directed By: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Written By: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Feb 3, 2010 Wide
On DVD: Aug 24, 2010
Studio: Kino International

Critic Reviews

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
The performances are searingly intense, all delivered by non-professionals cast to type and extemporizing within the parameters of the script. They take the play out of acting, and the effect is unvarnished realism.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Any given half-hour of the film has dramatic impact; at two hours, it's a power punch to the gut.
Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
The fact that these two Israelis from opposite camps worked together to make this movie is as important as the movie itself.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
It's a film that rewards close attention, involving disparate characters whose lives intersect over the course of several chapters.
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
Ajami brings its audience into a world where the cultural conflict is fierce, emotions run high, yet the hopeful vision of peaceful coexistence shines through the cracks.
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Good intentions are one thing, of course, and good writing and filmmaking another. Ajami is lucky to have all three.
Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay Total
Una contundente ópera prima, narrada en forma fragmentaria a la manera de Amores Perros o Crash, que retrata con brutal honestidad la vida en un conflictivo vecindario de Jaffa. Estupendo elenco de actores no profesionales.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Gripping modern-day drama about crime and tensions among the Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.
Sean Axmaker, Seanax.com
... acutely insightful about the social divisions within Israel, but it examines them without scolding or sentimentality.
Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine
Ajami continues the tedious trend of films that purposefully muddle interlocking stories to prove simplistic notions about hotbed issues, wrapping them in a familiarly tragic bow for maximum affect.
Alistair Harkness, Scotsman
A confident contemporary crime thriller that, yes, may rely on perhaps a few too many plot coincidences to hang together, but otherwise offers a bracing insight into a troubled situation without hectoring us with insipid platitudes.
Jeff Meyers, Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Stories of violence, revenge and corruption smartly told by next-gen foreign filmmakers
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
The actors, every one of them new to their craft, make the everydayness of the picture indelible and real.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
The pattern of connections and coincidences is a little overschematic, but the movie has energy, especially in the grippingly real shooting scene at the beginning.
Matt Bochenski, Little White Lies
A rare film that will force you to confront your own prejudices.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
Ajami has an appealingly rough-edged, authentic feel to it, thanks to some strong location work and the fact that the cast is drawn largely from non-professionals and real life locals.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
This is vividly challenging, utterly inclusive and heartfelt cinema. It's not only gripping to watch, but it'll open your eyes to the intractable human conundrums behind the blood-stained headlines.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
By showing how people fail to live together - in a film you could call Israel's City of God, with its sectarian-feuding story lent power and immediacy by improvisation and non-professional casting - Ajami shows how they might or should live together.
Dan Lybarger, eFilmCritic.com
Ajami may be set in Israel, but at times it plays more like an American gangster drama. The film does address the ethnic and social tensions that run through the country, but it does so in a nuanced and refreshingly clear-eyed way.
Keith Cohen, Entertainment Spectrum
The movie is insightful in revealing how messy life can be with enemies living in close proximity to one another. The press notes point out the...

Read all 24 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jim H

Directed by a Palestinian and an Israeli, this film tells the stories of several men in Israel/Palestine who struggle in the midst of colonization and ethnic hatred. It wasn't until over an hour into the film that I finally figured out what was going on. The directors use an… More
Directed by a Palestinian and an Israeli, this film tells the stories of several men in Israel/Palestine who struggle in the midst of colonization and ethnic hatred. It wasn't until over an hour into the film that I finally figured out what was going on. The directors use an Tarantino-esque style of fractured narration and points of view, and though it may have been my fault - I might have been slow on the uptake - the story-telling was not as crisp as Tarantino, who is able to introduce all his characters in a short period of time without letting plot lines dangle too long. That said, once Ajami revealed itself, I found it remarkably compelling. Every moment rang with verisimilitude, and it felt like I was watching real people's lives unfold in a tragic, star-crossed land. Compared to other genuine films about Israel/Palestine, like Laila's Birthday, Ajami is much darker, almost hopeless. Its message is a desperate condemnation of the hatred and violence that suffuse everyday life in the directors' homelands. Overall, I think now that you know you can trust the directors' storytelling - that you know that it all makes sense by the end - you might be able to enjoy the hell out of this important film.
Cynthia S

It took a bit of time to figure out the disjointed non-linear plotting with this film. The detailed flashbacks, with increasingly more details, was likely the whole point of the movie. Every time more details were filled in, and more information was available, the assumptions about… More
It took a bit of time to figure out the disjointed non-linear plotting with this film. The detailed flashbacks, with increasingly more details, was likely the whole point of the movie. Every time more details were filled in, and more information was available, the assumptions about the motives and actions of the characters became more understandable. By the very end, it all came together in a most shocking way. Well done.
Lanning :

Okay, I think I'm in the twilight zone but, then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not. It's not just that this is an interesting movie with some agile narrative manipulation along the lines of Pulp Fiction and Rashomon.… More
Okay, I think I'm in the twilight zone but, then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not. It's not just that this is an interesting movie with some agile narrative manipulation along the lines of Pulp Fiction and Rashomon. That's a definite plus. You know you're watching a decent movie when time flies and you don't even bother to check the counter on your DVD player. What is truly mind-blowing about this movie, however, is something I did not know going in nor did I even discover it, quite by accident, until I watched the extras and learned the "actors" are not professional actors. That's right, even though I kept telling myself, "Wow, this is a great group of really fine actors," I was mightily surprised to find out in the extras that not a single one of the people in this movie is an actor. They're all plain old folks brought in from the community, who were led through a few acting workshops, and then turned loose in front of the camera. And if that isn't mind-blowing enough, none of them saw the script or knew the story throughout the filming of the movie. They were simply put into scenes, told what was basically going on in those scenes, and then they ad-libbed all the dialog. All the dialog. Every single word! You have to see this not just because it's a decent story and well made, but especially because these are just average Joes and Janes from the neighborhood improvising a two-hour movie. I repeat: mind-blowing! And I hardly ever view the extras, as I've said in the past. A quick survey of "the critics" leads me to believe that not a whole lot of folks know -- or maybe even care -- about this phenomenon. And it is phenomenal, don't you think?
Carlos M

Ajami is a brutal, gripping and honest look at the endless violence that has been devastating the Middle East. A complex mosaic drama set in a neighborhood where Jews, Muslims and Christians clash against each other in intense hatred and revenge.
Walter M

In "Ajami," Omar's(Shair Kabaha) uncle defends himself from a shakedown attempt at his restaurant by grievously wounding the attacker which results in a blood feud. The restaurant is burned to the ground, the uncle is shot in the street and a neighbor is accidentally… More
In "Ajami," Omar's(Shair Kabaha) uncle defends himself from a shakedown attempt at his restaurant by grievously wounding the attacker which results in a blood feud. The restaurant is burned to the ground, the uncle is shot in the street and a neighbor is accidentally killed. The younger members of the family are sent away while Omar at the age of 19 must assume elder status, asking help from Abu-Lias(Youssef Sahwani), a local power broker, to negotiate a peace. Abu-Lias has a daughter, Hadir(Ranin Karim), and a restaurant where Malek(Ibrahim Frege), an illegal worker from the West Bank is employed and who has a grandmother who is gravely ill and needs a bone marrow transplant. Meanwhile, Dando(Eran Naim), an Israeli policeman, desperately searches for his missing brother. "Ajami" is a compelling, yet flawed, movie that takes apart the notion that Israel is a segregated country, as both Arabs and Jews live together in the same city of Jaffa, a mix that occasionally creates violence. And even in these separate communities, there is diversity and divisions that cannot be overcome. The problem with this well-observed neo-realist movie is its reliance on the cliches and contrivances of crime drama and by unnecessarily complicating its structure. It is not a bad idea, per se, to tell the story from different viewpoints but it is when it gets out of control as time goes back and forth at will. (Originally review on March 7, 2010.)
Jeff T

Moviegoing for the hardcore foreign film attendee, AJAMI demands so much attention that it can't help but finally not quite be worth all the effort. Alternately gripping and overly confusing, what makes the film toughest for an American audience is not helped by the… More
Moviegoing for the hardcore foreign film attendee, AJAMI demands so much attention that it can't help but finally not quite be worth all the effort. Alternately gripping and overly confusing, what makes the film toughest for an American audience is not helped by the distributors: it switches from Arabic to Hebrew with only momentary notes in the subtitles - and this is crucial to following the fractured chrology of the big, messy, awful story. Although it becomes clear what's going on (and doesn't go to any particularly surprising places), you may suffer from Foreign Film Exhaustion (FFE - a real disease, I swear) before it starts paying off for you. It may be a great film, but I can only say it's a good one because it took so much out of me just to follow... The fault is mine, I'm sure.
Linda K

Powerful film! Also hard to absorb some of the segments in the film at times!
Richard F

The best film of its kind since "The Edge of Heaven". It's hard to believe that this masterpiece was concocted by nonprofessionals, since its authenticity transcends conventional filmmaking. This is a complex and convoluted non-linear story that is so brilliantly… More
The best film of its kind since "The Edge of Heaven". It's hard to believe that this masterpiece was concocted by nonprofessionals, since its authenticity transcends conventional filmmaking. This is a complex and convoluted non-linear story that is so brilliantly constructed and connected, it easily trumps films like "Crash" and "Babel".
Daisy M

Ajami was directed by 2 young Israelis directors, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. It was nominated as best Foreign Film this year Oscar, but unfortunately it lost from the Argentinian thriller. Ajami was a two hour drama which involved several violent incidents, linking one story to… More
Ajami was directed by 2 young Israelis directors, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani. It was nominated as best Foreign Film this year Oscar, but unfortunately it lost from the Argentinian thriller. Ajami was a two hour drama which involved several violent incidents, linking one story to the others, and focused on some view points told by the use of flashbacks. The movie had a slow pace in the beginning but then it became more interesting. The young actors featured in the movie were amazing and made the movie believable from beginning to the end.