Ford Transit (2003)

This film manages to balance a serious political topic with humor and charm. Very entertaining and insightful."Ford Transit" shows us how the driver of a makeshift West Bank bus negotiates the treacherous border, and gives an ear to the Palestinian passengers' points of view along the way.A very enjoyable and entertaining journey. Each rider has a tale to tell, and the driver has many.I came away from this film feeling that "everybody is wrong, and nobody is right" about the Middle East.I highly recommend it.

Although a little dated by now, this documentary is a must see for those who are interested in finding out how Palestinians live and survive in the occupied territories. The action is live, there is no professional actor, nothing is made up or scripted and we come along for a ride from the territories to Israel and how the driver must weasel and hustle his way around concrete barriers, the Israeli military and general traffic hassle. The Ford Transit is the vehicle of choice and ironically, as explained in the film, was given by the Israeli police department to the Palestinian Authority for its population' s transportation needs. I strongly recommend this documentary for anyone interested in the events in the Middle East and an insight into daily Palestinians' lives.

You know growing up in America, always seeing this conflict from the point of view of one side, in sound bite-sized doses, you'd think that Palestinians are nothing but a pack of murderous savages who deserve to be bombed, blown up, bulldozed, economically choked and harassed at every opportunity. The truth, as always is a bit more complex than that. Here we see what the day to day life and see them as humans with diverse viewpoints. It turns out a lot of them are against violence too and just want to live in a normal way.Too bad though that wiser heads (on both sides) cannot beat out the entrenched power structures that actually keep their power through violence and the ongoing threat of it.Politics aside though its quite entertaining to watch the young man driving the bus, as he is quite resourceful in his attempts to avoid both the Israelis and the PA( not always successful mind you). As he wheels and deals across the land and runs into all sorts of trouble and that to him is just a normal day, trying to live. I'd recommend this to anyone who likes to observe a different culture in the day to day.

Caution: Spoilers within.A while back, MTV used to air a wonderful show in which a taxicab was fitted with a camera and mic, and the audience got to see all sorts of wonderful personalities as they would ride the cab and converse with the driver and give us all sorts of funny and weird "confessionals".Hany Abu-Asad seems to have taken this idea one step further in "Ford Transit", by using taxicab confessionals as a way to showcase the views and opinions of a large number of Palestinians, as well as depicting the their hectic way of life as they try to cross from checkpoint to checkpoint using a Ford Transit taxicab.We get to see everyone in the taxi, and i mean everyone!! Prominent Palestinian political figures like Hanan Ashrawi and Azmi Bishara; older women; fat men; lawyers; waiters; younger kids. All of them sitting in the back of a taxicab telling us what he/she thinks of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the peace process, Bush, the Israelis, checkpoints, and so on....Reigning as the supreme confessional, however, is the dialogue with Rajai, the young photogenic driver of the taxicab, as we watch him hustle his way through checkpoints, drive his cab over dirt roads to avoid surprise searches, and serve as a reality-check to the lofty, idealistic words sometimes expounded by his passengers. Rajai symbolizes the everyday hustle that young Palestinians have to become to survive in Palestine.What I liked most about this movie, however, was that the director Hany Abu-Asad himself, in interviewing the passengers in the taxicab, was always willing to play the role of the devil's advocate: trying to pose questions from the Israeli point of view and challenging the Palestinian occupants to see things not only from their side, but also from the other side.... ..this is movie's ultimate triumph, in my opinion! Not only does it serve to show us a vibrant and sometimes exasperating slice of Palestinian life, but it also questions the Palestinian/Arab viewer to think deeply about issues like the effect of suicide bombings, and whether they serve any meaningful purpose.Everyone should go see this movie. Well done.