Sallah Shabati

As part of an annual film festival of films from Israel, I saw this classic film at the legendary Cinema des Cineastes located near Place de clichy metro station in Paris. This will be remembered as a landmark film in the history of Israelian Cinema. This was filmed in 1964 by Ephraim Kishon at a time when there was hardly any visible trace of film-making in Israel.Kishon,the great humorist filmmaker of Israel proved that good films can be made even when one has limited funds and equipments at one's disposal.The highlight of this film is the light hearted manner in which it shows various hilarious solutions to housing problems of Jewish people after the independence of Israel. To my mind,it is one of those rare films in which two of the greatest living stars of Israelian cinema : Haym Topol and Gila Almagor have acted. They play an impoverished couple with a lots of children. It is fun to watch all the ruses adopted by them in order to be able to get hold of their own house.After the screening, chatting with bemused audiences Haym Topol recounted how owing to a prior commitment he declined Sergio Leone's offer to star in "A fistful of dollars". So if there is anything which has made Clint Eastwood what he is now, it is this refusal in question by Haym Topol.