mysteries... 
Identity -- This film is about crisis of identity – on both a personal and community level. It addresses the universal human need for understanding and challenges the viewer with a series of concepts including the struggle of the artist, political reality, synesthesia, music versus modernity, despair versus hope, anticipation of a new world where merging realities collide against a sense of despair.
The Warrior-Artist -- What is the proper role of the artist when confronted with the reality of loss of identity in the midst of a changing national landscape, conflicting heritage, and the resulting loss of national and individual pride? The artist must be at once a voice of hope, playing the man for the people – today, even more so, he must be at once a warrior against despair, a lover of humanity, a monk of modernity 21 st century style – in other words he must be a modern day hero – he must be willing to face the human state of loneliness – never being content to hide, and seek others too who will face the common reality of foreigners -- and seek to find like-minded companions who fellowship together in a third world that exists beyond the walls of class, race, nationality, and religion. It is not enough for the artist to simply allow himself to be a passive container of emotions – it is his calling to fashion order from the chaos of modern day reality and despair, and in doing so become a prophet of hope for humanity. Our pianist’s struggle throughout the film represents modern man’s universal need and longing to be understood and cherished as his true self, his need to confront the reality of oppression with defiance, to achieve spiritual wholeness within himself, and to face inhumanity with courage, and in fellowship with others who are also not afraid.
Thematic Significance of Old Age Meeting Youth -- i.e. Old Joseph meets the young Joseph. In this scene the young Joseph is worried about the human existence while old Joseph calms him down by describing Joseph’s condition in different metaphors for instance Joseph feels the anger occupying his body while old Joseph is pacifying the anger by saying it’s just a heat that spread over your container of emotions. In this scene there are two characters who are fighting inside Joseph the artist and the politician. They are talking to each other in different languages. While young Joseph speaks in Arabic, old Joseph responds in English and thus there is another layer of communication that the two parties must overcome, analogous to the language barrier between East and West.
Thematic Significance of the Lovers Cutting Hair – themes involved include love as a fellowship, and the cutting of the hair represents a symbol of life transition. The two represent a nontraditional couple because the deeper female side of the man seeks affirmation and support from the masculine side of the female party.
Thematic Significance of the Synaesthesia -- The artist perceives everything – he has a heightened awareness of the beauty in otherwise ordinary experiences. The sense of distorted reality, even that of distorted beauty, is illustrated in a scene where he listens to the slightly warped sounds of Rachmaninoff at the clinic when the receptionist is babbling.
Thematic Significance of the Arabic Horse – This horse story is a telling observation into Middle Eastern culture as to the concept of the noble servant, personified by the Arabic Horse. The Arabic horse is a creature that is unusual in nature – its devotion to the master is unconditional. It cannot even choose to leave or stay with its master if the master decides otherwise. To the horse, the master’s act of generosity in releasing it to the thief can be construed as an act of betrayal – the dissolving of a servitude which the horse embraces, but it must go nevertheless. The master and the thief, on a higher level, is analogous to Palestine and Israel – two countries to whom the artist must submit conflicting allegiance to, or at the higher level to any country.
Stage Translated Into Cinema -- Bringing Theatrical into Film --- the effect of stage stylistic influences is apparent in the film, with the heavy use of symbolic gestures and body language enhancing the dramatic flavor of the movie. Such as crossing the street scene in between East and West Jerusalem. What this means – one must switch one’s identity from Palestinian to Israeli as easily as one puts on a yarmuka – this is a daily ritual.
The separation of man from mother – It is noteworthy that the women in the film all play strong characters that perform the job of psychologist for the pianist – this reflects the artists’ sense of need, which reflects on the title of the film. This character undergoes separation anxiety from his natural mother which parallels his sense of underlying anxiety and dislocation about his national identity. The title “sense of need” refers to the artists’ need for belonging and certainty in a world where there is very little certainty. The security of having a master – analogous to the identification of a country, even the possessive love of a mother seems preferable to the pianist than his situation, without firm sense of belonging or grounding that a live conscious mother, or a strong national identification could provide.
Searching -- The eyes of the pianist is searching – he searches for national and artistic identity, for a sense of human connection -- for connection with someone who will love and not use the artist, for comfort in the beauty of music and everyday happenings, searching for affirmation of his true self, ultimately his search embraces the eternal search for the truth.
The White Lie – Portrayed as a more common western phenomenon, a comical scene is found in the doctor’s office where the American clinical worker (bearded man) lies on the pianists’ behalf for beneficial reasons. He is basically selling his friend trying to convince the secretary in the front disc that Joseph is sick and he needs to see a doctor and it’s an emergency. On the other hand the same character appears towards the end and he is selling Joseph as a piece of art in the Gallery trying to show the vision behind this piece of art.
The Artistic Temperament -- the artist cannot choose to ignore the feelings that he has in order to make life livable. He was trying to kill this feeling of living under the tension – the tension that is part of ordinary life in the Holy Land but the more he resists its influence, the more it becomes a part of his reality.
The Black and White scene or the French kiss scene - It’s an image that comes up in Joseph’s head as a deja-vu between him and the lady in the coffee shop as if they meet in the same neighborhood. Since Joseph has the synaesthesia he says to her I can smell what you think and then he says I smell a familiar kiss but when he come closer to kiss her he couldn’t because he smells the kiss of his mother. Smelling is a primitive action close to nature, and his response is thus spontaneous.
The hole in the hand -- There is a diversity of religions that is brought into unity with this image – the three religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism is reflected here -- the character Jesus provokes references to all three because Christians believe he is the son of God, Islam because Muslims believe he is a prophet and for the Jews he is an honored teacher. And he is seen with one tear of blood because, regardless of the religious traditions that claim him, the people take his path and tweak it.
Thematic significance of the two doctors -- Joseph goes to a free clinic center because he doesn’t have insurance. He goes to check his condition. The first time he meets a doctor of Palestinian descent and the second time he meets a Jewish doctor. These doctors represent opposite sides of the Diaspora that affects the two nations.