A candy store becomes a battleground for identity, capitalism, and the soul of a nation.
Salah, an Israeli-Arab enterpriser, strives to bring happiness for the children of the Arab sector in Israel by opening a new chain of candy stores. 'The Firm', an Israeli corporation headed by Klausner , that controls Israeli candy market, resent Salah on his former business move - taking control over the Israeli market of Turkish coffee. Klausner sees the new business initiative of Salah as a real threat, not only a business one but also a cultural and a political one, even a real challenge against Zionism itself. In a disguise of a Business struggle the story reveals moral dilemmas and a cultural struggle: the Arab businessman trying to integrate in Modern Israel against the dominant Zionist culture.
Acting
Makram Khoury's simmering dignity under pressure
Direction
Pitchhadze's patient, almost documentary observation
Writing
Coffee and candy as loaded political symbols
Director
Joseph Pitchhadze
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film sparked debate in Israel for humanizing an Arab protagonist's economic ambition without reducing him to victim or villain—a rarity in Israeli cinema of this period.
Turkish coffee as Salah's first conquest is deliberate: it's a drink associated with Arab tradition, making his 'invasion' of the Israeli market a symbolic reversal of cultural erasure.
IL
