Tel Aviv on fire is the title of a most opaque soap opera. The heroine is Rachel, a dark-haired beauty and Palestinian spy who nailed into the Israeli military headquarters and manages to seduce their supreme general. Her boyfriend Marwan fights for the freedom of Palestine somewhere else, but the hope of their reunification is glowing. The series' high kitsch level and romantic core make it visible to both Jews and Palestinians.
Living in a conflicting country creates a fine-tuned look that quickly divides the world into one or the other camp. Every choice, from how you kiss someone to where in the country you live, has political significance. Palestinian Marwan is a freedom fighter or terrorist, depending on who you ask.
In short, it means constantly having to take a stand.
My own experience of this is limited, but at least I lived in Northern Ireland for a year during the ongoing civil war and quickly learned that only something as seemingly unimportant as the choice of grocery store (Irish chain Dunnes vs British Safeway) could provide political connotations.
Maybe it feels all, all the choices and all the drama, eventually as a soap opera? Not for those who are in the firing line, of course, but for the vast majority of residents who just want to live as naturally as they can and can buy food wherever they want.
"Do you know what is best about Paris," the actress Tala asks between the shoots. "That it is not occupied".
No one living in a conflict-free country would dream of Paris for that reason.
Tel Aviv on Fire, the movie, is a meta-comedy. The real conflict is reflected both in the soap opera, in the film and in the reality of television production. It's smart.
The soap is recorded in Palestinian Ramallah on the West Bank. This means that Salem, a mediocre production assistant at the lowest level, has to pass the control station in Jerusalem every time he goes to work. There bosses Asi, a typical machoman. When Asi finds out that Salem is involved in his wife's favorite series, he becomes eager to influence the content. The Jewish general must become the hero of the series, not the villain, because of course his reality looks like that. He goes so far as to abuse the power of his office to influence the end of the story. It's a fun idea (even though it echoes strongly of Woody Allen's "Rain Over Broadway") but never rises above the level of light, low-key comedy. Too bad, with such strong conditions.