A funny thing happened on the way to the performance. An Egyptian police orchestra on its way to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center in Israel takes the wrong bus and end up in a podunk sort of town in the Israeli desert. The Band’s Visit tells the story of the interaction between the band members and the people of this little town.

Just as Egyptian/Israeli relationships are very formal and arm’s length, so too are the relationships as the band and townsfolk begin to interact. The people of Bet Hatikva offer hospitality to put these strangers up for the night, but there is no real warmth from either side. As the night goes on, some progress is made, but it continues to be awkward for everyone involved.

Bet Hatikva is in the middle of nowhere. Shot after shot of parking lots, landscapes, and streets show nothing but emptiness. It is an empty town filled with empty people. Even one of the townspeople with a family reflects on the emptiness of his marriage. It doesn’t seem like the men in the orchestra have any more in their lives than these townspeople. They are worried about budget cuts eliminating the band. One started writing a concerto, but has never finished it. He just keeps playing it as far as it goes and then stops.

This is a melancholy film, but it is blended so well with humor that the sorrow never overwhelms. It has some truly funny scenes as these people connect in unusual ways during their brief time together. The film constantly walks a fine line between not only melancholy and humor, but also loneliness and community, and intimacy and formality. That constant balancing makes this an enjoyable and heartwarming film. It goes far deeper than the meeting of Israeli and Arabs. It delves into the humanity that is not only common to both, but to us all. It allows us to see just a bit of the spark that God places within each of us.

At one point, the woman who arranges everything in town asks the conductor why a police band needs to play the classical music it plays. He responds, “That is like asking why a man needs a soul.” When the orchestra comes, they don’t bring their music to the town, but in the interactions between these diverse people, their souls are made known to one another.

Director Eran Kolirin writes: “A lot of movies have been made touching the question of why there is no peace, but it seems fewer have been made about the question of why we need peace in the first place. The obvious is lost on us in the midst of the conversations centering on economic advantages and interests. At the end of the day, my son and my neighbor’s son will meet, I’m sure of that, in some neon-blinking mall under a giant McDonald’s sign. Maybe that is some kind of comfort, I don’t know. What is certain though is that we lost something on the way. We traded true love for one night stands, art for commerce, and human contact, the magic of conversation, for the question of how big a slice of the pie we can get our hands on.”

Even as dark as the humor is in The Band’s Visit, it is still a film about hope. Bet Hatikva means “House of Hope.” The town the band was meant to go to was Petah Tikva, which means “Doorway of Hope.” Ironically, the House of Hope seems hopeless, but through the accidental visit of these strangers, perhaps a new life and new hope is possible.