Israeli-Palestinian romance captured in ‘Bubble’
By Gary M. Kramer
PGN Contributor
© 2007 Gary M. Kramer

YOUSEF “JOE” SWEID (LEFT, ASHRAF) AND OHAD KNOLLER (NOAM)

Gay filmmaker Eytan Fox’s “The Bubble” is an engaging same-sex romance that carefully and candidly depicts the relationship between Noam (Ohad Knoller), an Israeli soldier, and Ashraf (Yousef “Joe” Sweid), a Palestinian he meets at a checkpoint.

On the phone from his home in Tel Aviv, where the film is set, Fox addressed one of the central issues raised in “The Bubble:” whether it is more difficult to navigate nationality or sexuality in contemporary Israel.

“My first reaction is sexuality — the personal is more difficult than the general,” he says, admitting that when it came to shooting the Arab scenes, he had to downplay the gay love story to gain acceptance from the people on location.

That said, Fox, who co-wrote the film with his partner Gal Uchovsky, captures young gay life in Israel with perspicacity. The film’s characters run the gamut of gay men, from Noam’s “every gay man” to his effeminate roommate Yalli (Alon Friedman) to Yalli’s hunky, macho boyfriend Golan (Zohar Liba). And yet, Fox has these characters defy queer stereotypes.

“I tried to deal with the different gay existences of gay men in Israel,” he explained. “In my last film, ‘Walk on Water,’ I [showed] that there is not only one way of being a man. Here, I’m saying there is not only one way to be a gay man. I try to question the stereotype and gay characters’ representation in Israeli films and in world cinema.”

Not surprisingly, the two leads, Knoller — who played Yossi in Fox’s earlier gay romance, “Yossi and Jagger” — and Sweid are both straight. The filmmaker explains that Sweid in particular took a chance playing his part. “He came from a conservative family. His mother didn’t speak to him for a month after he kissed a Jewish girl. His mother has not seen this film, and probably never will. He’s a big star for Jewish girls because of his work on an Israeli soap opera. He represents change.”

"BUBBLE" DIRECTOR ETYAN FOX

Another way “The Bubble” confronts head on the issues of sexuality and masculinity as well as nationality is in a sex scene where Noam penetrates Ashraf, and the two men are drawn closer together in their relationship. Fox is very conscious of the fact that Ashraf would find it “difficult to be passive” in this sex scene, but he thinks it is important for these men to connect in this way, and for Ashraf to show what “he’s giving up to become one with his lover,” in Fox’s words.

Yet audiences will find the relationship between the two men to be about much more than just sex. Noam and Ashraf have a bond, Fox feels, not because they are gay — although that is a part of it — but because they are “different from their communities” on a larger scale. They are both more “humanistic” and want to find a peaceful common ground, and not be caught up in the political turmoil that has surrounded their lives.

Such a hope is not new, and “The Bubble” shrewdly contrasts the efforts of the younger generation who plan a “Rave for Peace” with the angrier, more disillusioned older generation who feel daily despair. Fox understands these perspectives and appreciates that they engage debate. “I find it difficult that there is so much denial and repression about what is going on,” he said. “It takes its toll. There is this deep anxiety and depression that things are not getting better. We were so hopeful in the Rabin era. Things are bad 10 years later.”

And if his film has its tragedies — showing the cost of living in a war zone — “The Bubble” also celebrates Tel Aviv and its thriving Shenkin Street area. Fox truly appreciates the city where he lives, and T-shirts and graffiti throughout the film emphasize “I love Tel Aviv.” Fox likes the fact that his city is a liberal, progressive place, noting, “This wasn’t the case in Israel in general, and in Jerusalem, where I grew up. Jerusalem was primitive in the 1970s and 1980s. Tel Aviv tries to be very fashionable, with amazing nightlife — bars open until 4 a.m. and all these new restaurants. It’s a clear reaction — let’s live and party, because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Fox’s view of the world may also explain why he overstuffs his films, adding layer upon layer of meaning to his characters’ personal and/or political actions. When Noam describes his mother’s effort to bring neighboring Israelis and Palestinian children together on a playground, it is a scene right out of Fox’s childhood. Likewise, when the film draws a comparison between Noam and Ashraf’s relationship and those of the imprisoned characters in the play “Bent,” it is because the reality of both of these “impossible relationships” exists for him.

As for why he combines so many disparate elements in his films, Fox said, “I try to bring what I think is relevant, even if there are different subtexts or elements, and I try to get them to work together. Every scene, you can read it in a broader [context] or see all the spectrum of things that exist in one moment — on a political level, social level, etc. — I like to do that. That’s how I’ve decided to read my reality. I have to deal with these things. It can be funny, or difficult, and how life sometimes can be [both].”

And true to Fox’s word, “The Bubble” encapsulates all of these things.