Sallah Shabati (1964) DVD-R

Starring Topol, Geula Nuni, Gila Almagor, Albert Cohen, Shraga Friedman
Directed by Ephraim Kishon

Print: Color, Black/White
Runtime: 110 min
Genre: comedy
Language: Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles

The sharp, often hilarious satire that became the most successful film in Israeli history (until that time) is about new immigrants Sallah and his family, who are left in a shack near their promised apartment and are abandoned for months. A Yemenite Jewish family that was flown to Israel during "Operation Magic Carpet" - a clandestine operation that flew 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel the year after the state was formed - is forced to move to a government settlement camp. The patriarch of the family, portrayed by Chaim Topol, tries to make money and get better housing, in a country that can barely provide for its own and is in the midst absorbing hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.