Review: O Jerusalem

On a New York City street on July 22, 1946, Said (Said Taghmaoui) nearly runs over Bobby (JJ Feild). After some hot words, Bobby hops inside and tunes Said’s radio for the latest news about the terrorist attack on the Hotel King David in Jerusalem. The Arab law student, nephew of a Palestinian leader, and the Jewish WWII vet, still in uniform, become warm friends. They travel to Jerusalem. After the United Nations mandates the division of Israel and Palestine on November 29, 1947, the brave, young Israeli and brave, young Palestinian will face one another in encounters fraught with geopolitical peril and weighted with bromides of brotherhood. Director Elie Chouraqui (“Harrison’s Flowers,” “Man on Fire”) co-wrote this historical drama with Didier Lepecheur, based on the 1972 book by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. (Their other works include “Is Paris Burning?” and sagas of the Spanish Civil War and India’s independence from Britain.) The historical accuracy may surpass Otto Preminger’s 1960 screen adaptation of Leo Uris’ 1958 novel “Exodus”—Ian Holm plays Ben-Gurion as a force of nature and Tovah Feldshuh does a mean and wily Golda Meir—but the meet-cute of Bobby and Said, and a color-muting palette yield a pastel lesson that only asks “why-cant-we-all-get-along?” With Daniel Lundh, Mel Raido, Patrick Bruel and Maria Papas. 102m. (Bill Stamets)