DAVID

The section of Brooklyn when young Daud lives with his family is like a mini Israel except the ’wall’ that divides the Jewish and Moslem communities is not physically visible.  He’s a very serious introspective 12-year-old boy and as the son of the local Imam reads his Koran religiously and even helps teach it to younger boys.  One day out in the neighborhood park he spots that a group of Jewish boys his age have left their Torah behind on a bench,  and so dragging his younger sister along he tries to catch them up to return it.   He fails, but notices that they enter a Yeshiva so he drops the book off in the mailbox.

Except he accidentally leaves his own Koran instead and as this is something of an heirloom he goes back to the Yeshiva the next day to swap it over.  As he enters the building he gets mistaken by the Rabbi as just anther Jewish schoolboy late for class, and he goes along with the error just so that he can discover where his precious Koran is kept. And then in response to his teacher’s question he replies that his name is David, which enables him to fit in better.

His classmates soon accept David and over time not only do they become good friends, but they also teach this overly serious boy how to relax and have some fun. 

This is all played out against a backdrop of how both local religious comminutes are coming to terms with how they own society is evolving. For example, David's older sister is desperate for a way to be allowed to go to College in California even if it means marrying a local Arab boy as that is the only way her devout and strict ultra-conservative father will allow her to go.

David’s duplicity does eventually get discovered and the initial reaction from his own family and his new best Jewish friends is one of sheer horror, but after some deeper thought, the boys friendship and David/Daud’s own happiness win out in the end.

This very well-meaning debut feature film from local Miami filmmaker Joel Fendelmen gets high marks for his noble attempt at showing us his take on one aspect of conflicting religions and their communities trying to live side by side in peace.  However, it was a tad too simplistic for my taste to consider it anything more than just a pleasant enjoyable movie.

On the con side, some of the supporting actors were not particularly good but not bad enough to put you off seeing the movie especially if the subject matter is one that is dear to your heart.


★★★★★★★