In his review of Ajami for the American Jewish World, San Francisco-based film critic Michael Fox called the film “a knockout. A crackling urban drama shot with unblinking realism and steeped in astringent Middle East irony, Ajami sinks its hooks in the first minute and never lets up.”
The film’s title is taken from the gritty Jaffa neighborhood that is the setting for most of the action. The various ethnic and religious groups — Jews, Muslim Palestinians, Christian Palestinians and Bedouins — “live in uneasy proximity. Melting pot? Try boiling pot,” Fox says.
Ajami is showing at the St. Anthony Main Theatre, 115 Main St. S.E., Minneapolis, through May 20.
Here’s a trailer:
