When the then president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, visited the divided city of Berlin in the 1980s, he issued a ringing declaration. Tear down this wall, he said in a reference to the insidious Berlin Wall. As Reagan suggested, walls separate people and sow grievances, misunderstandings and conflicts.
Adam Levy (Jesse Aaron Dwyre) and Yasmine Gibran (Flavia Bachara).
Michael MacKenzie’s feature film, Adam’s Wall, which is scheduled to open in Toronto on Dec. 5, adopts a similar approach to walls.
Set in Montreal during the 2006 war in Lebanon, Adam’s Wall turns on a seemingly doomed romance between a Jewish Canadian and a Lebanese Christian Arab. Their relationship, such as it is, seems destined for the dustbin. There are simply too many barriers, not the least of which is a raging war in Lebanon pitting Israel against Hezbollah.
It begins with a flashback. A vehicle carrying several passengers is stopped by Israeli troops in the West Bank. Two of the occupants, Avrum and Anita Levy, are mistaken for terrorists and shot dead. In fact, Avrum Levy is a human rights lawyer who has worked for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
As Adam’s Wall fastforwards to a winter day in Montreal 10 years later, Levy’s teenaged son, Adam (Jesse Aaron Dwyre), is seen hurrying to a clarinet audition. On his way, he meets Yasmine Gibran (Flavia Bechara) at a non-violent student demonstration.
Adam, who has been brought up by his Orthodox Jewish grandfather (Gabriel Gascon), takes a shine to Yasmine. She and her father have run away from “bombs and vengeance” in Lebanon. In an unmistakable signal of affection, Yasmine gives Adam her cell phone number, yet they face an uphill struggle.
Adam’s gruff grandfather is none too pleased by the romantic rumblings. He refers to Yasmine as “the Arab girl” and brands all Arabs as terrorists. Meanwhile, Yasmine’s Lebanese acquaintance denounces Israel’s policies.
Nonetheless, they seem made for each other. Adam is drawn to Yasmine’s poetic sensibility, while she appreciates his thoughtfulness. Can they surmount the invisible wall that may yet draw them apart?
In posing this implicit question, Adam’s Wall is fearless in exposing the problems that may yet undermine the bonds that bind them. Regrettably, the film lacks the tension of a first-rate drama, though the performances are understated and genuine.
