Yellow Asphalt
Encyclopedia
Yellow Asphalt is an Israel
i movie depicting Jahalin Bedouins and their way of life, specifically their conflict with Israeli Jews. The film is a pastiche of three short stories depicted sequentially:
The stories are shot on location in the Judean desert
, and casts members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in acting roles. The three shorts are woven together by the presence of the same village elders in all the films, who happen to be actual members of the Jahalin Bedouin. The movie was released with Hebrew
and Arabic
audio tracks. The shorts are based on true events, and the director actually lived with the Bedouin tribe for some time before making the movie, learning their view of things portrayed in the movie. The entire movie took seven years to create. The movie tries to portray the clash of civilizations
between the Bedouins and Israeli Jews in a non-judgmental manner.
Shot before the Second Intifada, the movie steers clear of political themes, focussing instead on social issues.
while crossing the highway with his donkey. The truck driver and his help decide to move the body to the side of the road, and flee. The truck's self ignition fails, and by the time they repair it, they are surrounded by Bedouins. The tense, almost wordless stand-off is broken when the truck help, under orders from the truck driver, removes an extra wheel from the truck and gives it to the Bedouins to pass judgment on.
, is instructed to go back to her tent and her family. She decides to escape in the middle of the night with her two children. She runs most of the night - carrying her younger child, and leading her older one - before falling asleep exhausted. She is discovered in the morning by her husband who pursues her with a 4WD across the desert wadi
s. She intercepts an Israeli truck, and is helped by the truck driver, but her husband realizes she is hiding in the truck when he overhears his children crying inside it. The wife takes flight with the children, but is ultimately pursued down by the husband and stoned
.
This entire episode turns out to be a cautionary daydream of the German wife in question, who ultimately decides to leave in the middle of the night with her two children anyway.
is thus inadvertently started between the family of the housekeeper and that of the farmyard help. The help ultimately undergoes the primeval "fire test
" to prove his innocence, but tells the Bedouin elders about the guilt of the Israeli farmer. The Bedouin help is excommunicated
from his clan, but given a chance to redeem himself by killing the Israeli farmer. He fails to do so, and the Israeli farmer is shown being pursued by the brother of the housekeeper. The final scene shows the farmyard help, an outcast from his society, hitching a ride into the same Israeli city, with words he had used to chide the housekeeper about living in two disparate worlds playing in the background.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i movie depicting Jahalin Bedouins and their way of life, specifically their conflict with Israeli Jews. The film is a pastiche of three short stories depicted sequentially:
- Black spot (Moshe Ivgi, Zevik Raz) - about an Israeli tanker crew which runs over a Bedouin boy
- Here is not there (Tatjana BlacherTatjana BlacherTatjana Blacher is a German actress. She is the daughter of composer Boris Blacher and Pianist Gerty Blacher-Herzog. Blacher studied at the Max Reinhardt seminar and at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. She is mostly known for her role as Edith Frank in Anne Frank: The Whole Story....
, Abed Zuabi) - about the doomed love of a German woman and her Bedouin husband - Red roofs (Raida Adon, Sami Samir, Motti Katz) - about a love affair / physical relationship of an Israeli Jewish farmer and his Bedouin maid
The stories are shot on location in the Judean desert
Judean desert
The Judaean Desert is a desert in Israel and the West Bank that lies east of Jerusalem and descends to the Dead Sea. It stretches from the northeastern Negev to the east of Beit El, and is marked by terraces with escarpments. It ends in a steep escarpment dropping to the Dead Sea and the Jordan...
, and casts members of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in acting roles. The three shorts are woven together by the presence of the same village elders in all the films, who happen to be actual members of the Jahalin Bedouin. The movie was released with Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
audio tracks. The shorts are based on true events, and the director actually lived with the Bedouin tribe for some time before making the movie, learning their view of things portrayed in the movie. The entire movie took seven years to create. The movie tries to portray the clash of civilizations
Clash of Civilizations
The Clash of Civilizations is a theory, proposed by political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world....
between the Bedouins and Israeli Jews in a non-judgmental manner.
Shot before the Second Intifada, the movie steers clear of political themes, focussing instead on social issues.
Black spot
A Bedouin boy is run over by an Israeli tankerTank truck
A tank truck or road tanker is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquefied loads, dry bulk cargo or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars which are also designed to carry liquefied loads...
while crossing the highway with his donkey. The truck driver and his help decide to move the body to the side of the road, and flee. The truck's self ignition fails, and by the time they repair it, they are surrounded by Bedouins. The tense, almost wordless stand-off is broken when the truck help, under orders from the truck driver, removes an extra wheel from the truck and gives it to the Bedouins to pass judgment on.
Here is not there
A council of village elders meet to discuss the marital problems of a Bedouin man and his German wife. The wife, who wants to leave with her two children back to GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, is instructed to go back to her tent and her family. She decides to escape in the middle of the night with her two children. She runs most of the night - carrying her younger child, and leading her older one - before falling asleep exhausted. She is discovered in the morning by her husband who pursues her with a 4WD across the desert wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
s. She intercepts an Israeli truck, and is helped by the truck driver, but her husband realizes she is hiding in the truck when he overhears his children crying inside it. The wife takes flight with the children, but is ultimately pursued down by the husband and stoned
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
.
This entire episode turns out to be a cautionary daydream of the German wife in question, who ultimately decides to leave in the middle of the night with her two children anyway.
Red roofs
A Palestinian housekeeper, wife of a Bedouin leader, is a concubine of an Israeli Jewish farmer with wife and children of his own. When news of her infidelity reaches her husband via Bedouin children who spotted her making love in the desert, he beats her up. The housekeeper decides to seek shelter at the farmer's place based on his assurances that he would look after her. However, the farmer decides to avoid trouble with the Bedouin tribe and asks his Bedouin farmyard help to kill the woman and dispose of the body and gun. The help is unable to kill her, and takes the housekeeper to an unspecified Israeli city - letting her go and telling her not to come back. She does come back, and is shot dead by the farmer. The help deposes of the body and gun inefficiently, leading to the discovery of both. A blood feudBlood Feud
"Blood Feud" is the twenty-second and final episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on July 11, 1991. In the episode, Mr. Burns falls ill and desperately needs a blood transfusion. Homer discovers Bart has Burns' rare blood type and urges...
is thus inadvertently started between the family of the housekeeper and that of the farmyard help. The help ultimately undergoes the primeval "fire test
Bisha'a
Bisha'a or Bisha is a ritual practiced today by some Bedouin tribes of the Judean, Negev and Sinai deserts for the purpose of lie detection. It is also practiced, and is said to have originated among, some Bedouin tribes of Saudi Arabia...
" to prove his innocence, but tells the Bedouin elders about the guilt of the Israeli farmer. The Bedouin help is excommunicated
Takfir
In Islamic law, takfir or takfeer refers to the practice of one Muslim declaring another Muslim an unbeliever or kafir...
from his clan, but given a chance to redeem himself by killing the Israeli farmer. He fails to do so, and the Israeli farmer is shown being pursued by the brother of the housekeeper. The final scene shows the farmyard help, an outcast from his society, hitching a ride into the same Israeli city, with words he had used to chide the housekeeper about living in two disparate worlds playing in the background.
Awards
- Won, Special Jury Prize, Cologne Mediterranean Film Festival, 2001
- Nominated, Best Cinematography, Award of the Israeli Film Academy, 2000
- Nominated, Best Screenplay, Award of the Israeli Film Academy, 2000