Very best movie i ever watch

Good idea lost in the noise

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Sad, tense, but also often funny examination of Palestinian/Israeli relations, all told by interviews in a passenger van that serves as a cab service in Palestine. This was embraced when it was first released, then later attacked by some critics because it's not a 'true' documentary, and some incidents are staged. But that didn't seem like a problem to me, because it often seems openly more like docu-drama then pure documentary. I certainly didn't feel misled.I did feel entertained, informed and touched, even if I wasn't quite as moved as by the very best films on this subject, and a few of the arguments started to repeat themselves. Certainly worth seeking out if you're interested in the subject matter. While not available on DVD, it has run on occasion on the Sundance Channel.

Saw this at the Sundance FF and had the privilege of sitting through a Q&A with the director, early one morning (a good time to attend films at Sundance, everyone else is asleep until noon." I can tell you that not absolutely everything in this documentary is completely "unscripted," but the substance absolutely is. Most documentaries are like that.A great look at life in occupied Palestinian. Answers the question: "what's it like to get to work through road blocks (through which you cannot drive a car) every 5 miles or so..." Interesting, sad, funny - you will laugh out loud, also hopeful, human, tragic.Follows the life of a "taxi" driver, but several notable Palestinian and other figures are interviewed (in the back of the taxi). A story you will hear nowhere else.I recommend it!

A fine documentary on the people who ride with a Palistian "Transit" driver. A deep in-site in to the people, and their thoughts and feelings on day to day life. From the smuggling of cucumbers and CD's, the roadblocks, to their views on Bush, terrorists, Israel, and the rest of the world. A very enjoyable and entertaining journey. Each rider has a tale to tell, and the driver has many. Interviews with the mother of suicide bomber, to people who just want to get from point a to point b, and don't care about the political issues.I came away from this film feeling that "everybody is wrong, and nobody is right" about the Middle East. A 5 star film.

Caution: Spoilers within.A while back, MTV used to air a wonderful show in which a taxicab was fitted with a camera and mic, and the audience got to see all sorts of wonderful personalities as they would ride the cab and converse with the driver and give us all sorts of funny and weird "confessionals".Hany Abu-Asad seems to have taken this idea one step further in "Ford Transit", by using taxicab confessionals as a way to showcase the views and opinions of a large number of Palestinians, as well as depicting the their hectic way of life as they try to cross from checkpoint to checkpoint using a Ford Transit taxicab.We get to see everyone in the taxi, and i mean everyone!! Prominent Palestinian political figures like Hanan Ashrawi and Azmi Bishara; older women; fat men; lawyers; waiters; younger kids. All of them sitting in the back of a taxicab telling us what he/she thinks of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the peace process, Bush, the Israelis, checkpoints, and so on....Reigning as the supreme confessional, however, is the dialogue with Rajai, the young photogenic driver of the taxicab, as we watch him hustle his way through checkpoints, drive his cab over dirt roads to avoid surprise searches, and serve as a reality-check to the lofty, idealistic words sometimes expounded by his passengers. Rajai symbolizes the everyday hustle that young Palestinians have to become to survive in Palestine.What I liked most about this movie, however, was that the director Hany Abu-Asad himself, in interviewing the passengers in the taxicab, was always willing to play the role of the devil's advocate: trying to pose questions from the Israeli point of view and challenging the Palestinian occupants to see things not only from their side, but also from the other side.... ..this is movie's ultimate triumph, in my opinion! Not only does it serve to show us a vibrant and sometimes exasperating slice of Palestinian life, but it also questions the Palestinian/Arab viewer to think deeply about issues like the effect of suicide bombings, and whether they serve any meaningful purpose.Everyone should go see this movie. Well done.