May is a Palestinian- American who has lived for 15 years in New York and returns to Palestine to get married. Her mother is deeply Catholic and her fiancé is Muslim. The pitch looks quite dark as we hear “Palestine ” and ” religious conflict”. That’s said the film is sold as a comedy so we immediately think about «Rock the Casbah “, movie released last November. A film about the difference in Eastern and Western culture and Hiam Abbass plays the mother in both films.
In reality this is not a dark film or a film with punchlines or comical situations comedy as seen in “Rock the Casbah “. It is rather a movie that deals with family matters, the mother/daughter relationship with great accuracy and a hint of derision. Although the film may have a slow pace sometimes because we quickly understand how things will turn out, the film is honest and we spend a good time watching it. Cherien Dabis is the lead actress and also the author and the director of the film. The film echoes her first feature film «Amerikka» which dealt with a Palestinian woman that immigrate to the USA. Dabis is perfect for the role while she confessed in an interview that she didn’t plan to play the role initially and was scared to do it. The rest of the cast is also great especially Alia Shawkat who plays the little sister and Bill Pullman who plays the father.
Cultural differences are raised without making a catalog out of them, with a subtle directing that makes us understand that Cherien Dabis mocks some behaviors from Eastern culture (the fact that all the guys stares at her while jogging ) or Western culture (the fact that the Americans turned the dead sea into a spot for rude spring breakers) . She is herself half Palestinian and American so she can properly enlighten the differences between these two cultures. The soundtrack is a great mix of Oriental and Anglo-Saxon songs and so it’s especially nice. The film is not divided in chapters but rather punctuated by proverbs that illustrate the initiatory journey of May (her character is the author of a book that studies the Arab proverbs). The characters are complex enough so it makes them more interesting and real. Palestine is also a country we have little opportunity to see beyond war images on the news. Here we discover the beauty of this country but without overdoing it, not perfect as a postcard. Like the characters in the movie, Dabis shows its qualities and its flaws.
A beautiful film.
