Wajib: The Wedding Invitation DVD

The title of Wajib translates as duty', and it's duty that brings architect Shadi (Saleh Bakri) from Rome back to Nazareth, where his sister Amal (Maria Zriek) is to be married. Local tradition dictates that Shadi and his divorced dad, Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri), must drive around town delivering wedding invitations. Friction is in the air even before the duo clamber into Abu Shadi's beloved and beaten-up old Volvo. Shadi thinks the exercise is outdated and meaningless. For his father, it's about maintaining important community rituals. Bakri and son Saleh are terrific and earthily funny as the bickering duos who meet colourful characters on their cross-city travels. A Palestinian born in Bethlehem, raised in Saudi Arabia and educated in New York, Annemarie Jacir brings a worldly, wise and witty eye to this hugely entertaining and illuminating slice of Palestinian life.