Being a bride is never easy, but being betrothed to a Syrian, in the Israeli controlled Golan Heights is doubly hard. Anyone leaving to marry someone in Syria, becomes a Syrian citizen and isn’t allowed back into the country. The film combines the political complexities of the occupied territories with with an equally challenging family drama.
Jamal’s wife and sister are part of the resistance movement, his sister is exiled and wife dead by suicide. Hoping to avoid the same fate for his daughter Miral, he has her brought up in a school for Palestinian orphans. He hopes that education can temper the rising Intifada. This is Miral’s story of her struggle between violence and peace.
Prior to World War II the state of Israel didn’t exist, it was carved out of lands with an uncertain status. Jews and Arabs have historically lived in that area but in 1948 the area became Israel. Some Arabs left and many stayed, this is a story about the Suleiman family that stayed.
A man kills 3 Americans in Afghanistan with a rocket grenade. He’s captured and tortured. While moving him to another facility, he escapes. Totally disoriented, he’s gone from the desert to a land covered in snow, is heavily forested, and mountainous. This is like Vietnam POW escape, except the guards are Americans
It’s June 1982 at 3AM, in the First Lebanon War. A lone tank and a unit of 12 paratroopers are dispatched to clear a town that has already been obliterated by the Israeli air force. The crew struggle to come to grips with the conflict but their humanity is slipping away with every shell they fire.
Well it’s been 4 days and 5 Egyptian centered movies watched. The Egyptian Mini Film Festival has wrapped up. My outlook and understanding of the country really has changed from 5 days prior.
Even though Mansour is the new kingpin, his crime empire is uncertain as families align and fight against each other. The infighting starts alerting the local police and their superiors in Cairo. It’s a touchy situation as no one is free from corruption.
The film is centered on the lives of the people who work and live in the Yacoubian Building in downtown Cairo. At its height, it entertained the famous and powerful alike. A metaphor for Egypt, the building and its inhabitants have faded from its former glory.
Fahir from Indonesia is in Cairo to study his graduate degree in Islam. Other than the occasional game of football, he’s devoted to his studies and is a pious man. So he’s puzzled about why women are giving him love notes.
This action film stars Tito, a thief with a heart of gold. He goes under the tutelage a corrupt high ranking policeman that feeds him leads for robberies. Tito wants to go straight though.
The wife of a UN aid worker travels in Cairo to meet her husband. Upon arrival, she finds he’s been delayed for an indeterminate amount of time. Alone in Cairo, she only has her husband’s former colleague to help her navigate the city. As time passes, they’re drawn to each other.
In light of the recent events in Cairo, it made me understand that I don’t know Egypt at all. We’ve all seen Hollywood films and travel shows, but what does that show us other than caricatures of Arabs, Pyramids and hot tourist spots?
