MOVIE REVIEW : Romeo, Juliet Meet in Mideast in Well-Intended ‘Torn Apart’

“Torn Apart” (at the Fine Arts and AMC Century 14) is a contemporary romantic tragedy so old-fashioned in its conception that it does not achieve the impact it strives for so earnestly. Admirable in purpose and clearly a work of impassioned commitment, it has as its strength a timely theme of peace, two solid central performances and superior camera work by Barry Markowitz.

Unfortunately, director Jack Fisher and writer Marc Kristal, who adapted Chayym Zeldis’ novel “A Forbidden Love,” are workmanlike rather than inspired. (Fisher’s previous feature credit is the Holocaust documentary “A Generation Apart.”) However, the real drawback is the question that hangs over the entire film from start to finish: Why should an Israeli production, dealing with the key challenge facing Israel, be made in English with Americans in the leads and nearly everyone else engaged in a heavily accented struggle to speak English? People who are concerned with what’s going on in Israel surely would be willing to sit still for subtitles, preferring to hear Arabs and Jews speaking in their native tongues.

“Torn Apart’s” Romeo and Juliet story, which begins in 1961, is as simple as its title is literal. Laila, an Arab girl, and Ben, a Jewish boy, are next-door neighbors and childhood playmates. The Six-Day War erupts, and after its conclusion, Ben leaves abruptly with his father for New York, not to return until 1973 to do his military service. Assigned to the occupied territories, Ben (Adrian Pasdar) encounters Laila (Cecilia Peck) at a checkpoint. Their unexpected reunion is rocky, fraught with peril, but they discover the affection they had for each other as children has blossomed into love. Of course, the lovers become a metaphor for the tragic relations between Arab and Jew.

Although “Torn Apart” is too predictable, preachy and--in some instances--improbable, Pasdar and Peck are to be commended for their wholehearted attempt to blend into the film’s ancient, strife-torn landscapes. Peck is an angular beauty whose demeanor and accent are just right for the free-spirited yet essentially reserved Laila. Although you might reasonably expect Ben to speak English with at least a trace of his native Hebrew despite his six years in Manhattan exile, Pasdar nevertheless makes him an appealing, robust romantic hero.

“Torn Apart” (rated R for adult themes and situations) has its heart in the right place, but that isn’t enough.