Joseph Silberg (Jules Sitruk) dreams of being a musician. However, as an eighteen-year-old Israeli, he is slated to join the military. Alon (Pascal Elbé), his father, is a career military man. After Joseph enlists in the Israeli Air Force, he takes a blood test that confirms that he cannot be the biological son of his parents. The way this shocking information is carefully disclosed by a hospital spokesman says a lot: Israel is one of the nations where your DNA determines your ability to serve the military. Not only is this development devastating for the family, but the hospital must do some serious damage control.
Meanwhile, Yacine (Medhi Dehbi), an Israeli by birth, was raised on the West Bank by Leila and Said Al Bezaaz (Areen Omari and Khalifa Natour). Though his family isn’t wealthy, Yacine has been fortunate enough to be able to study medicine in Paris. Having just returned from France, Yacine finds himself engulfed by this unexpected and devastating news. Yacine’s psrents take a meeting with the Silberg’s, where everyone’s worst fears are confirmed.
The remainder of The Other Son focuses on relationships, gender differences, cultural differences and the characteristics that define who you are. Writer/director Lorraine Lévy succeeds at exploring all these issues without becoming overly preachy or maudlin. The families on both sides are clearly decent people, but their reactions to the situation are distinctly different. The two fathers and the Palestinian’s brother are most concerned that their birth son/relative has been raised by the “other side.” The mothers are more concerned with getting to know the sons they gave birth to.
It is also interesting that while the father’s have a lot invested in their religious identities, the sons not so much. While Joseph’s father is in the military, and he was set to join because he was required to, his true ambition is to be a musician. In turn, Yacine, after some years in Paris, sees himself building a future in Europe; forging a new identity of sorts.
Some may be bothered by the somewhat simplistic conclusions reached by Lévy, but that may have been by design, to let us know that these are good young men no matter what. Further, no matter how difficult or polarizing the issues are that we are forced to confront, there is always a silver lining if we search hard enough for it.
The Other Son comes to Blu-ray courtesy of Cohen Media Group and Entertainment One in full 1080p, framed at 2.35:1. Shot on varied locations, the image displays them rather sharply. Colors are accurate and well saturated. Close-ups reveal a nice level of detail and contrast is consistent throughout. Compression artifacts aren’t an issue.
The Other Son features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, available in a variety of languages, including French, English, Hebrew and Arabic. The mix itself is surprisingly immersive, providing very nice ambient and environmental effects.
English subtitles are available.
The following special features are included:
- Making Of Featurette (HD, 30:47) Features interesting insights from writer/director Lorraine Lévy as well as some behind the scenes footage.
- Deleted Scenes (HD, 9:21)
- Bloopers (HD, 3:09) A typical, but funny blooper reel.
- Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:07)
