Overview
What would you do if you found out that the family you grew up in was not your biological family? In The Other Son this dilemma is made all the more perplexing by the fact it runs across the Palestinian-Israeli divide. In the hands of director and co-writer Lorraine Levy though the concept of infants swapped at birth becomes a relatable experience.
Joseph (Jules Sitruk) is an aspiring musician and the son of a high-ranking Israeli officer (Pascal Elbé) and a French-born doctor (Emmanuelle Devos). While preparing for his military service a routine blood test shows he isn't their biological son. A follow-up investigation reveals that their baby Yacine (Mehdi Dehbi) has been raised on the West Bank by Arab couple Leila Al Bezaaz (Areen Omari) and the mechanic Said Al Bezaaz (Khalifa Natour).
The news comes as a huge shock to both sets of parents. The fathers are reserved, proud men who worry what the neighbours might think and don't quite know how to absorb the information. The mothers, by contrast, lead the way by quickly learning to love both sons. One of the delights of the film is watching the friendship between Joseph and Yacine develop. Their frank conversations reveal their preoccupations and anxieties in humorous and thought-provoking ways.
The 'brothers' are naturally inquisitive about how the other lives and make impromptu visits to each other's homes. The city of Tel Aviv is presented in stark contrast to the impoverished setting of Yacine's village. On the other side of the wall, Joseph asks a shepherd for directions to Yacine's house while in comparison the streets in Tel Aviv resemble those of Paris or Rome. To Levy's credit, overall the political conflict that exists is quietly documented without overshadowing the fact this is first and foremost a family drama.
The Other Son sets out to show that despite political and religious differences people are people and it does that very well. It could have been a cliche-ridden overly sentimental story but instead it is provocative, intelligent and touching story about real people facing a very surreal situation.