Zaytoun, a seriocomic fable set during Israel's 1982 war in Lebanon, opens Friday at Landmark's Opera Plaza Cinemas. An Israeli pilot (Stephen Dorff) has a potentially deadly encounter with a Palestinian orphan boy, Fahed (Abdallah El Akal), that slowly turns into an intergenerational-buddy road movie.
When fighter pilot Yoni's jet is shot down in a contested slice of Lebanon, it's as if he landed inside a Middle Eastern remake of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Taken prisoner near a Palestinian refugee camp, Yoni attempts to bribe his way out of Dodge and runs into a pint-sized enemy who is more than his match. Fahed, 10, not only wounds Yoni in an embarrassing part of his anatomy, but also insists on coming along on the Israeli pilot's jail-break. The boy has a special mission: to replant a small, sickly olive tree, left him by his now-dead dad, in the sacred soil of the family's Israeli-occupied homestead. Zaytoun (the Palestinian word for olive) gradually turns zany, but never entirely sentimental, as man and boy hail an Arab-driven Mercedes taxi and, before journey's end, convince its driver that he should take up another line of work.
Israeli director Eran Riklis is carving out a reputation for himself as the big-screen author of what one critic referred to as "mournful shaggy-dog" stories. These tales �" The Lemon Tree, The Human Resources Manager �" are sophisticated moral parables with liberal doses of slapstick and black humor. They deal with the need of people from warring tribes to figure out new ways to gain respect and carve out their own piece of the pie in the Jewish state.
Appreciation of Zaytoun's frequently screwball antics is enhanced by the surefooted chemistry between emerging indie star Dorff and his buddy/surrogate son, played by an animated young Palestinian, Abdallah El Akal. This personable child actor, from a beleaguered culture that has up to now offered few Disney Channel opportunities for its burgeoning youth population, has the comic chops to pick our pockets emotionally before sealing the deal with some high-stakes dramatics.
Zaytoun co-star Stephen Dorff was in town recently to promote his first Israeli film appearance along with his new existential brother road-trip, The Motel Life. In-between bites of French fries from his Nob Hill hotel-catered lunch, the dirty blonde actor, who's gaining buzz for injecting tough-guy roles with touches of humor and vulnerability, discussed the way he gets to duke it out with a scene-stealing kid.
"Zaytoun was a movie that I didn't really think I could do, but I liked the script. I came from a family where my mom was Catholic and my dad was Jewish. I had never been to Israel, so I thought this would be a great adventure for me. It's a movie about two enemies who hate each other, who ultimately form a unique bond over a three-week period. God, it could have been an al-Qaeda member and a New York City policeman.
"Our story takes place in 1982, two weeks before the Lebanon War. This kid shoots me in the ass. I want to kill him, but over three weeks we have a incredible journey, and there's a bittersweet ending. It couldn't be more different from The Motel Life, but it was a character I wanted to go for once director Eran Riklis said, 'I believe you could be Israeli, if you get the Hebrew and get the accent. You actually look Israeli.' He showed me a picture of the [real-life] pilot."
David Lamble: The kid is amazing.
Stephen Dorff: He's a natural, he's not a trained actor. He's a kid who came into the audition who Eran had known from some bank commercial he shot. He came in with this attitude when he saw there were other kids auditioning: "How many times do I have to come here? You don't know I'm the right one for the part?" I said, "That's the kid," and Eran said, "I know, I hope we can get him to show up for work. He doesn't have an agent. He comes from a family where his parents were born in the West Bank. He speaks Hebrew, Arabic, English. He's got his fucking iPad."
