Belgian film presents universal dilemma to enthralled Amman audience

AMMAN — The atmosphere was electric at Amman’s Rainbow Theatre on Thursday, the second night of the 2016 European Film Festival, and every seat was connected to it. 

The cinema was packed, with audience members even sitting in the aisles for the screenings of “Flying Home”, a Belgian romantic drama, and “A Royal Night Out”, a British comedic drama.

The audience gasped in surprise and roared with laughter together at the two light-hearted yet touching films, whose humour and message reached the hearts of a diverse audience. 

“What we hoped for is to build bridges, which is what a movie does. It connects you to regions you haven’t been to with a topic that everybody knows about, which is the place of money in society versus generosity,” Belgian Ambassador to Jordan Hendrik Van de Velde told The Jordan Times. 

“Flying Home” tells the story of Colin Montgomery, an aspiring businessman, whose job depends on securing an incredibly wealthy Arab sheikh as a client for his firm. 

The two strike a deal: the sheikh will sign with the firm if Montgomery is able to prove himself by acquiring the fastest pigeon in the world from its owner, a Belgian man. 

Under the guise of searching for his great-grandfather’s grave from World War I, Montgomery heads to Flanders. But his mission is complicated when he falls in love with the pigeon owner’s granddaughter and is forced to choose between money and love. 

“I think it reversed the roles a little bit. Usually it’s the rich and powerful West and here, I mean, the girl in the movie said it, she called them ‘simple Belgians’,” Van de Velde said.

“Here it was the opposite; they took a powerful man from the Middle East having to show generosity, whereas usually the image is the West giving money to the Middle East.”

The film’s connection to World War I set the scene for the second film, which took place in London on the night of May 8, 1945 — the day of the Allied forces’ victory in Europe and the end of World War II. 

Two teenage girls are allowed to join the party and set off on a night of adventure across the city, making them late to get back home to Buckingham Palace. The two girls are  Princess Margaret and her sister Elizabeth, the future queen of England. 

Teigan Litke, a Canadian who attended the screening with a friend, said: “It was brilliantly cast and had quite a few laugh-uproariously-out-loud moments. People were very engaged, there was a lot of laughter and it was in those moments where we were all laughing I felt connected to the others in the room.”

The 28th European Film Festival continues this week with a screening of the Hungarian film “Mancs” and the Spanish feature “La Isla Minima” (Marshland).

The festival concludes on Monday.