Rafi (a bearded man with glasses) and Leni (a beautiful red-headed woman) stand next to each other in an elevator. The elevator music rings on as we hear the ding of each passing floor. It’s completely obvious that the two are a couple, although initially it’s hard to tell, since they’re not even speaking to each other. They might be strangers, or friends, or something else – and then as we’re thinking about whom they are, and where they’re going, almost suddenly, Rafi leaves his calm demeanor and starts undoing and tugging at his tie. Leni asks him what he’s doing, to which Rafi responds: “I have to change my shirt, I’m sweating”. The girl watches as her boyfriend lifts his arms and reveals his arm pits. She says “Wow, those are the biggest pit stains I’ve ever seen in my life.” Rafi deadpans and smirks, “Thanks.”
Watching Only human is much like getting ready to run a marathon; one stretches and warms up, making sure everything is ready before the big race, then, its on to the running. The thing is, a marathon is a structured race; there is a marked beginning to run from and an equally marked end to run to.
The race that this couple will embark on is completely unsound, with unexpected obstacles sprouting up out of nowhere – and with no predictable way of seeing what lies ahead. One could say “Only Human” is nothing like a marathon; it’s more like an extreme triathlon – set in the jungle, amidst the worst of dangerous beasts.
What makes this couple interesting? Maybe it’s the fact that both are members of opposing factions, yet are together as lovers. Rafi, who holds an Israeli passport, is not an Israeli per se, he is a Palestinian. Leni, who’s more agnostic than not, comes from a Jewish family. They’ve fallen in love and Leni is bringing her boyfriend to meet her parents.
Rafi has changed his shirt, no pit stains now – and they’re both ready to face the family. Knock, knock. A little girl answers the door. She feigns forgetting who her aunt is – and promptly shuts the door. After polite small-talk, the little girl leaves, but not before throwing the orange she was holding at Rafi’s face. “Do you ever want to have kids?” says Leni. “Yes, just not like her”. Rafi faces Leni, and they laugh. The simple dialogue makes for a pleasant time.
The witty banter bounces back and forth through the movie, and is brought to life by Leni’s quirky and animated family. Leni’s mother is a nervous wreck, with mild bi-polar behavior to show for it. She rigorously vies to keep her family as one harmonious unit – it’s hilarious to even watch her try. The sister is a nymphomaniac who satiates her sexual desire by sleeping with strangers, and who has a moral code of her own; she reprimands her daughter (whose father is nowhere to be seen) when the child exhibits any sort of polite or religious behavior. Then comes in David, the brother who’s obsessing over his new found interest in Jewish rites and how they’re supposed to be followed. His mother reacts to his religious behavior by saying: “It’s his new thing – let’s hope he sticks with it.”
The most eccentric family member of all, the blind grandfather, nicknamed Dudu, sits alone in his dark den, rocking his rocking chair – wallowing in his introspection and dementia, uttering the words to old songs. When he meets Rafi – whom the whole family assumes is Jewish, given that he is, in fact, Israeli – he springs out his rifle and starts shouting out old war stories, commemorating how he killed 4 arabs in the great war. Rafi swallows hard.
“You didn’t tell them I was a Palestinian?” Leni tells her boyfriend to hold off on it, not just yet.
Leni ends up telling her mother and all hell breaks loose. Rafi frets. Leni worries. Her mother becomes even more nervous. Rafi decides to help out in the kitchen – to leave all that craziness for a while. Then while trying to heave the frozen pea soup out of its container, he pushes it towards the windowsill and it drops out the window. It hits someone. And now, there’s more trouble – too much for anything to go back to normal.
What draws you in, and keeps you interested, are not the matters which are discussed – the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, family disharmony or the infidelities. Its the situations the characters find themselves in that make for the most entertaining film I have seen in a long time.
The film lasts a mere 80 minutes – half of what most films last usually, yet the duration is what makes it work. By the end, the whole roller-coaster ride has laid in the fatigue and the tempo is just right to cut the hectic going-ons of this family.
I felt content by the end. The truth was laid out in the open, and the lesson was learned – simply, that love triumphs all.
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