The Bubble (2006 film)

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The Bubble

Directed by	Eytan Fox
Produced by	Ronen Ben Tal
Written by	Eytan Fox Gal Uchovsky
Starring	Ohad Knoller Alon Friedman Daniela Virtzer Yousef 'Joe' Sweid
Distributed by	- Israel - United King Films - USA - Strand Releasing - UK - TLA Releasing
Release date(s)	June 29, 2006 (Israel)
Language	Hebrew, Arabic
IMDb profile

The Bubble (Hebrew: הבועה HaBuah) is a 2006 Israeli film by Eytan Fox about a gay love story between an Israeli man and a Palestinian man.^[1] The title of the film refers to Tel Aviv, a relatively peaceful city in a tumultuous region.

1 Plot summary
2 Background
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot summary

Noam, a young Israeli working at a check point while on reserve duty, witnesses a Palestinian woman giving birth to a dead baby; he also notices a young Palestinian man there, Ashraf. He then gets back to Tel Aviv as he has finished his military service. There he shares a flat with another gay man, Yali and a girl, Lulu, who works in a soap shop.

Ashraf comes back to return Noam's passport which he had dropped and left at the check point. The two men kiss and it is agreed that he will move in with them and work in Yali's bar, as he could not be openly gay in Palestine. However, despite taking on a Hebrew name Shimi and so forth, a man that Lulu has slept with susses him out, and he runs off back to his family in Palestine.

Noam and Lulu dress up as French TV journalists and drive to his parents' house and there the two men kiss. Ashraf's future brother-in-law Jihad sees them and repudiates him; adds he has to marry a girl his family has chosen for him. Before his sister's wedding ceremony, he tells her he is in love with a boy, which she does not accept either.

A little later, he goes off to join the Israelis at an anti-war rave party on a beach. Later still, Yali gets maimed in a bombing in Tel Aviv, while he was out in a bar. He will never walk again.

Similarly, Ashraf's sister is killed in a military raid, before his very eyes. At the funeral all the men from his family appear very vengeful but he doesn't. His brother-in-law Jihad decides to avenge the death of his newlywed bride, and while creating a suicide video, Ashraf decides to take Jihad's place as a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv.

When Asraf primes his explosive belt, Noam sees him from inside the bar where he just bought Yali's and Lulu's dinner, and rushes out to Ashraf. As Noam approaches, Ashraf turns and ignites the explosives, killing them both and well as causing other injuries and damage to the cafe. Death has won but love has won, too. The film ends with Noam, talking in the background about the love the two shared, and a scene where young Noam and young Ashraf had played together as young kids in Jerusalem, their mothers sitting side by side.

[edit] Background

Eytan Fox has admitted that the film might have been prompted by his memory of falling in love with a Palestinian man when he was going through his military service at age 18, though he didn't follow through with him.^[2]
The film was originally meant to be entitled Romeo and Julio in reference to Romeo and Juliet, but it was changed for The Bubble after Eytan Fox was told it would sound like a porn movie.^[2]