A GAZA WEEKEND

Mild-mannered English journalist Michael (Stephen Mangan) is trapped in occupied Palestinian territories after a security lapse at an infectious diseases laboratory lets loose a fast-mutating virus. Ironically, the safest place on Earth is walled-up Gaza, accessible only by a tunnel now blocked by Hamas. A pair of bumbling Palestinian would-be people smugglers, Waheed (Adam Bakri) and Emad (Loai Noufi) are on hand – for a price – to get Michael out, but he insists on bringing his girlfriend Meren (Mouna Hawa), an Israeli whose presence could get them all shot. Not that she is grateful, being mostly appalled by their poor plumbing in the basement where they hide from Waheed’s nosy neighbours and the police. The action moves fast and furious, and the cartoonish humour and characterisations are riotous. Waheed’s wife Nuhad (Maria Zreik) proves to be the one person with enough smarts to sort everything out as the film arrives at a pleasing payoff.