The Other Son

Film (2012)

With Emmanuelle Devos (Orith Silberg), Pascal Elbé (Alon Silberg), Jules Sitruk (Joseph Silberg), Mehdi Dehbi (Yacine Al Bezaaz), Areen Omari (Leïla Al Bezaaz), Khalifa Natour (Saïd Al Bezaaz), Mahmud Shalaby (Bilal Al Bezaaz), Diana Zriek (Amina), Marie Wisselmann (Keren)

Joseph Silberg (Jules Sitruk) is a young Israeli man, presumably around 18, getting checked out for the army. His blood is tested and his type does not seem possible given the blood types of his parents. Some back checking determines a terrible mixup at the time of his birth. During a missile attack, he and the baby of a Palestinian couple were inadvertently switched in the hospital.

This beautiful film follows out the unlikely, but not completely impossible, scenario of babies switched at birth, but, through a carefully written script and subtly done direction and acting, makes the consequences poignant and believable.

In this French-made film, the characters often speak French, though there are portions of dialogue in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Part of the plot, suggesting French affiliations of both the Israeli and Palestinian families, enables this pretense.

Though there are few plot surprises beyond the initial one, the entire film is a continuing surprise of character development. How the families of the two switched babies interact, and how the effects of the realization play out within each family, provide the sense of drama.

All of the central characters give wonderful performances.

Jules Sitruk, as Joseph, the Palestinian boy raised as an Israeli, conveys a sweetly offbeat character, but one who knows how to go to the heart of the matter.

Mehdi Dehbi, as Yacine Al Bezaaz, the Israeli boy raised as a Palestinian, shows a courage and grace which is striking through the application of his sensitive intelligence, particularly with his father and brother who have a tremendously difficult time coming to terms with his identity. Dehbi’s darkly sculpted good looks provide a striking frame for his sensitive demeanor.

As the mothers, Emmanuelle Devos (Orith Silberg, the Israeli one) and Areen Omari (Leïla Al Bezaaz, the Palestinian one), convey a forthright sense of the challenges posed by their situation, but with a commanding duty, on both sides, to honor the affectionate obligations of motherhood, both to the reared, and to the newly-found birth, sons.

And, as the fathers, Pascal Elbé (Alon Silberg, the Israeli) and Khalifa Natour (Saïd Al Bezaaz, the Palestinian), show the ardent complexities of confused allegiance, with both showing great difficulties in overcoming their cultural affiliations, but both, with great feeling, gradually coming to terms with deep feeling for both sons.

In an especially challenging role as Bilal Al Bezaaz, the Palestinian older brother, Mahmud Shalaby does a wonderful job of showing, in a magnified and more intense way, the complex feelings the fathers exhibit, yet facing up to the same familial obligations, in the longer run, as they do.

Gentle and ironic humor seasons this dramatic script. When the young Israeli sister hears of the situation with her brother, she asks, innocently but uproariously: Do we have to give him back?

A line at the end of the film, after a plot turn, is poignantly funny and particularly heartbreaking. Bilal, the older Palestinian brother, says to Joseph, his Israeli-raised birth brother: I will let your parents know. Joseph, with his sweetly bemused smile looks back and asks: Which ones? It is a wonderful, poignantly funny moment, and a great capstone to a moving and beautifully done film.

– BADMan