NOT QUITE JERUSALEM (aka NOT QUITE PARADISE)

 

UK publicity poster for Not Quite Jerusalem (aka Not Quite Paradise) (© Lewis Gilbert/J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors/Anchor Bay Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Back in August 2023, I rewatched a nowadays fairly obscure but thoroughly charming hidden gem of a British movie from the 1980s that I'd last viewed over 30 years earlier when renting its big box video from a UK video shop. Some years ago, however, I finally tracked it down as a sell-thru video and purchased it straight away, and I've been planning to revisit it ever since. In Europe, this movie is entitled Not Quite Jerusalem (after its source stage play, by Paul Kember, which was first performed in 1982), but was retitled as Not Quite Paradise when released in America.

Directed by Lewis Gilbert, with a screenplay by the afore-mentioned Kember, and released in 1985 by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors in the UK, and by Anchor Bay Entertainment in the USA, Not Quite Jerusalem is a comedy/romance movie, but also with a serious parallel drama thread running through it.

Its main story concerns a group of young people (20-somethings) from around the world who come to an Israeli kibbutz to spend a few months working there together as volunteers for all manner of different personal reasons. Some are here simply for the experience, some to get away from their past, and some to create a new future for themselves.

Among this movie's stars are Kevin McNally as leather-jacketed Cockney wide-boy Pete and Bernard Strother as his denimed Northerner cohort Dave; Ewan Stewart as Scottish soldier Angus, whose turns of duty in the British Army serving in Northern Ireland during The Troubles have greatly affected him emotionally; Sam Robards as American medical student Mike, who provides one half of the film's love interest; and a stunningly beautiful Joanna Pacula as kibbutz volunteers-organiser Gila providing the other half. Mike is torn between staying there permanently with Gila, or returning home to the States to complete his medical training. What will he do?

 

Dave (Bernard Strother) and Pete (Kevin McNally) with Gila (Joanna Pacula), in Not Quite Jerusalem (© Lewis Gilbert/J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors/Anchor Bay Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

Also of note is Selina Cadell as scouser Carrie, whose airs and graces and claims to be a nurse engaged to a physician are ultimately exposed as something very different indeed. And let's not forget Todd Graaf as very likeable but seriously gauche Jewish American youth Rothwell T. Schwarz, who is determined not only to embrace but also to record for posterity every last aspect of his stay there, with the assistance of his ever-present cine-camera, even including "my first leak on sacred soil"!

The serious thread, conversely, features a group of militants determined to capture a leading Israeli figure in order to swap him for the imprisoned brother of one of them. In the movie's climax, the kibbutz volunteers find themselves taken hostage by the gun-toting militants, who are then stormed by a heavily-armed Israeli military force, the resulting confrontation culminating in deaths, but whose are they?

Not Quite Jerusalem develops each of its varied characters and their interactions with one another in a subtle, disarming progression, until by the end of it the viewer feels as if he/she actually know them and their foibles personally. So, what happens to them matters to the viewer, which is a tribute to the acting skills of the entire ensemble.

Maintaining this movie's emotional impact throughout, moreover, is the glorious music of longstanding Italian chamber orchestra act Rondo Veneziano, of whom I have been a constant fan ever since they first entered the UK music charts way back in the early 1980s with one of their countless self-penned, self-performed instrumental compositions (as of now, over 40 years later, they have recorded more than 70 albums).

 

Early 1980s publicity poster for the music of Rondo Veneziano, who often wear futuristic full-faced metallic masks when performing, and featuring the spectacular artwork of Angus McKie (© Rondo Veneziano/Angus McKie/Ferroway Records – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

It is interesting that although their early music in particular, i.e. during the time when this movie was made, was inspired by Venice, hence their name, it also perfectly augments the Holy Land setting portrayed here (the movie was shot on location at a real Israeli kibbutz), and the film includes my all-time favourite Rondo Veneziano composition – their serene, hauntingly wistful 'Sinfonia per un Addio' ('Symphony For a Farewell').

I cannot recommend Not Quite Jerusalem highly enough – a multi-faceted movie shifting effortlessly back and forth between sunshine and shade, from light, comedic whimsy to serious, poignant drama. So although it is not easy to find, do watch it if you can. And to ensure that you have no excuse for not doing so, this movie is currently free to watch on YouTube here.

Also, be sure to click here to listen to Rondo Veneziano performing 'Sinfonia per un Addio', accompanied by a sumptuous video celebrating Venetian masquerade, a longstanding fascination of mine.

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

USA publicity poster for Not Quite Jerusalem (aka Not Quite Paradise) (© Lewis Gilbert/J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors/Anchor Bay Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)