Review: Music carries dreams amid Palestinian-Israeli conflict in powerful hip-hop drama ‘Junction 48’

Playing somewhat like a Middle Eastern “8 Mile,” Udi Aloni’s “Junction 48” is an immersive fictionalized portrait of an aspiring rapper struggling to find his voice amid the constant din of long-festering Arab-Israeli tensions.

Kareem (real-life Palestinian rap artist Tamer Nafar, whose experiences inform the film) lives in the drug-addled city known as Lod to Israelis and Lyd to Palestinians — the site of a former railroad junction where both Jews and Muslims have been coexisting, at least in the physical sense, since 1948.

After his mother is injured in a car cash that kills his father, Kareem becomes more determined than ever to pursue his dream despite all the obstacles standing in his path, with the support of his strong-willed, golden-voiced girlfriend, Manar (Samar Qupty).

While music and politics have played roles in many a disparity-bridging scenario, co-writers Nafar and Oren Moverman (who received an Oscar nomination for 2009’s Iraq War-themed “The Messenger”) and Israeli American director Aloni, have no fanciful illusions about achieving peace through hip-hop.

Rather, through its keenly observed small moments and the presence of the charismatic Nafar and his infectious, socially charged raps, “Junction 48” sensitively yet powerfully conveys the considerable challenges inherent in attempting to reconcile those rocky crossroads of coexistence and cultural identity.

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‘Junction 48’

In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes

Playing: Laemmle Royal Theater, West L.A.

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