There is a brief moment near the conclusion of Atomic Falafel, the 2015 film dubbed by Variety as an Israeli answer to Dr. Strangelove, when director Dror Shaul presses pause on his sendup of the Israeli-Iranian nuclear standoff, and injects some real talk.
The scene finds Israel’s defence minister and the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, each man poised to launch a nuclear arsenal with the touch of a button, meeting via online video conference. After hurling an array of insults and taunts at one another, the two men eventually fall into an uncomfortable silence. Finally, Menachem, the mononymous Israeli defence minister, speaks up:
“So, how are you?” he asks.
“OK. Haven’t slept since Monday,” his Iranian counterpart responds.
“Me too,” Menachem replies.
The two quickly realize how much they have in common, and agree to a ceasefire. But in true Strangelovian fashion, it doesn’t last, and both sides are soon frantically re-arming their bombs. In the end, it takes a quick-thinking Israeli teenage hacker …