Sallah

One of the finest movies to come out of Israel and the first such to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, this 1964 satire set in 1949 follows the arrival of a family of “Oriental Jews” from a seemingly primitive Arab land into the recently-independent and fully Westernized state of Israel. The humorously rude patriarch of the family, Sallah Shabati (who sees the new Israel as more of a con job playground than a source of ethnic pride), is flabbergasted that his unruly clan is not receiving contemporary housing, but is instead being dumped in a Maabara—a supposed-to-be temporary camp full of one-room huts. The emphasis is on “supposed,” since the problems related to integrating the new immigrants from the Sephardic diaspora is not an overwhelming priority for Israeli authorities. Some of the humor in filmmaker Efraim Kishon's Sallah might be lost on those unfamiliar with the conflicts between European and Sephardic Jewish cultures; however, nothing is lost in translation with the wonderfully broad and brusque performance by Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) as Sallah. The Israeli actor was only 29 when he starred in this film (the makeup job adding years to his face is truly remarkable), and his hilarious interpretation of the cantankerous immigrant who reshapes Israel to fit his needs still resonates among the pantheon of glorious movie antiheroes. DVD extras include a featurette on “The Israeli Theater of Efraim Kishon.” Highly recommended. (P. Hall)