Customer Reviews

The Syrian Bride

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Syrian Bride is one of a string of well done European-Israeli movie productions. The producers and the cast are mostly Arab Israelis. While the movie might seem to carry political connotations it is in fact a sociological masterpiece.
The setting is Majdal Shams - the biggest town of the Golan Heights - a Syrian territory which Israel occupied in 1967 and annexed in 1981. The characters are Druze, a Middle Eastern sect that endorses a peculiar religious belief borrowed mainly from Greek mythology, Hinduism and Islam.
The movie highlights the national loyalty of the Golan Druze, which has remained presumably pro-Syria. It also depicts the difficulty this community endures as it lives on different sides of a land controlled by two enemy countries: Syria and Israel.
But the movie is not only about national affiliations and living hardships. It is an emotionally powerful film that penetrates into the deep sociological makeup of the Druze community in specific and the Middle Eastern community in general.
First, the wedding of the bride, Mona, to a fianc? she never met, exposes the fragility of arranged marriages. Mona not only had to surrender to an unknown fate as she marries Talal who lives on the Syrian side, she also had to give up on all of her family and neighborhood since once she left the Israel-occupied territory to Syria, she would never be allowed back. The scene highlights the high risks Arab brides take when they settle for arranged matches that they would never be able to give up on in the future.
But the film does not leave the question of the arranged marriages unanswered as it introduces Mona's elder sister, Amal, who had earlier settled for such an arrangement and now lives under the misery of a conventional husband with whom she does not share anything except for their two daughters.
The rigid Druze marriage system does not affect only women, however. Another sibling of Mona and Amal, Hattem, had been married to a Russian for eight years. Since he had taken up a wife from outside the community, Hatem was being cast out not only by his father, but also by the whole community. The movie cleverly depicts how Hatem's father, Hameed, was under pressure from the community's elders to boycott his son.
The film is certainly one of the best works in this regard about one of the Arab world's most undiscovered sociological aspects. The acting is great and the production is very much up to standard. I recommend you own it and add it to your library of best foreign films.

The best thing about The Syrian Bride is that while it tells the story of one family, it also tells an even bigger story about how an entire population of people are caught in a political no-man's land in northern Israel.

At the center of both of these stories is Mona, a woman, living in the Golan Heights of Israel, who is planning to marry a Syrian, living in Syria. At issue is that 'once she crosses the border into Syria, there is no coming back' to her Druze village nor her family. The bigger issue is the fact that this all exists, and the Druze people are caught in this no-man's land.

That being said, this film is emotionally powerful, and even a non-foreign film fan will get caught in the storyline about a wedding, and about family. The acting is fantastic, the photography is superb, and I highly suggest that while this has nothing to do with My Big Fat Greek Wedding in any way at all, I kept thinking about that classic as I watched The Syrian Bride. I believe this is destined to be a classic itself....all it needs is time.

While open hostilities currently prevail between Israel and its neighbors, this film tells of a relatively more peaceful time in the recent past when the Golan Heights have been separated from the rest of Syria by Israeli occupation. Like the wall dividing East and West Berlin, the border fences, check points, and no man's land keep apart members of families, whose lives must now accommodate political differences and national interests originating in cities far away and played out in bureaucracies that are mindless, petty, and impersonal. Against this background, the characters in this film attempt to have a wedding in which the bride and groom come from opposite sides of the border.

While this particular boundary crossing is fraught with difficulties, the bride's family has many inner divisions of its own, between father and son, husband and wife, and father and daughter. Meanwhile, the father of the bride is repeatedly confronted by an uncompromising Israeli army officer and the village's pro-Syrian sheikhs are delivering ultimatums of their own. There is enough dramatic conflict for an Altman movie. The Syrian bride of the title eventually is revealed as the unhappily married wife of a traditionally conservative husband who wants to keep her from pursuing a professional career.

One of the best dramatically honest films I've seen in a long time. The DVD includes an informative making-of featurette, which explains something of the complexity of a multi-national film project shot in the Middle East - and at the wrong time of year. Israeli-born Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, who plays the sister of the bride, is wonderful.

Note: Arabic with English subtitles.

'The Syrian Bride' released in '04 is a magnificent and profound examination of the many boundaries that divide individuals, families, religious communities, political persuasions and national identities. The setting is the Golan Heights played out against the backdrop of the northern border between Israel and Syria. A community of Druze have a wedding to celebrate, the bride on the Israeli side, the groom on the Syrian side.

When the moment arrives for the bride to give up her Israeli citizenship and cross the border never to return to her homeland the myriad of difficulties that arise during her attempted crossing can be viewed on numerous of levels;

1- A fascinating political statement on the absurd and uncompromising tatics used on both sides of the border to make the crossing difficult that only worsens the attitudes of both Arab and Jew.
2- An allegorical statement on the loss of humanity and personal identity caught in the wheels of bureaucracy and national interests.
3- A symbolic image of the various types and forms of borders that divide us that can only be overcome if someone is willing to take a chance and be bold enough to take the first step towards reconcillation.

Amazing film and another superb perfomance by the lovely Hiam Abbass. My highest rating: 5 Stars!

Loved this film because it really [...] me into their world on that day. It was a very intimate film. There was no real excitement but lots of suspense in the many relationships portrayed within one fascinating family torn apart by various things yet still coming together. There was also suspense in the family's relationships to the political states it had to live with, i.e. Israel and Syria. Even though this story would seem about an existence Americans just can't identify with, I found it very easy to identify with. It was like anyone's life but in higher stress. The pressures on the family members were more, the pressures on the family unit itself was more, the pressures placed on them by their local and national governments were more. The long climax of the film played out on the border was an experience of Orwellian red tape again MORE than an American has to deal with. I also learned about the Druze people and the situation they live in in Israel and Syria. There are just so many "situations" in that part of the world that I often feel overwhelmed when I try to research it to figure it out. I know one shouldn't rely on fictional movies to explain reality, but this movie did a good job of taking one day and using it to open a window on life for many Druze trapped in the Golan Heights apart from their relatives in Syria. There was never a dull moment . The acting was very good to excellent. This is the second film I've seen with Haim Abbass who played the older sister of the bride. I find her mesmerizing for some reason. She's just got "it". One can't explain it but one knows it when one sees it. Your eyes immediately go to her and don't leave because you just really want to see what she does next and to try to fathom her feelings and thoughts from her very expressive face. She's just the icing on the cake in this lovely piece of gifted film making. If you like this film, try Paradise Now which I actually preferred.

I agree with the Amazon.com review that says this is a film about borders and the "absurdities of bureaucracy." Not only that, but it is a good depiction of life for the Druze of the Golan Heights. Officially part of Israel, this peculiar people mostly claims loyalty to neighboring Syria, who lost the territory in the 1967 War but still refuses to recognize Israel's dominion over it. Obviously this makes for a tense situation between the two countries and the Druze are stuck in the middle.

The story is about a bride on the Israeli side of the border who is engaged to man (whom she has never met) on the Syrian side. The first part of the film is all about the bride's family and community and the delicate inner-workings thereof. This apparently gives the viewer a good insight into the typical life of the Druze. As an American, I of course found this society to be a bit peculiar, but I'm sure they would say the same about me. The second part of the film follows the bridal party as they try to make their way through checkpoints and border stations to meet the groom in Syria. This seemingly simple process turns out to be a bureaucratic nightmare and it drives home the reality of living in such a polarized region of the world. Again as an American I found it ridiculous that such a minor thing as a stamp could cause so much difficulty, but such is life in the Golan Heights!

Overall, this was a solid film. First-rate production quality, solid acting, and intricate yet moving storyline. There wasn't any action or anything really exciting, but it was an insightful, and seemingly true-to-life film. 'The Syrian Bride' gets PK's stamp of approval.

This is a wonderful tale of a Druze woman living in the occupied Golan Heights who plans to marry a Syrian man that she has never met. She must pass through the demilitarized zone and it is quite likely that she will never be allowed to return home again. In fact, the wedding is only one of several threads that weave their way through this story. This is partly a tale about the uncertainties of marriage, partly a tale of male-female relationships, partly a tale of the effect of the Israeli occupation on the indigenous Arabs, partly a tale of the political silliness between the Israelis and Syrians and how it disrupts everyone's lives, partly a tale about the conflict between the old ideas (and ways of doing things) and the new, but mostly it is a movie about family and about life. With so many themes and threads, this movie easily could have become a muddled mess. Everything is woven together perfectly, this is a great film in my opinion.

The bride Mona (played by the beautiful and talented Clara Khoury) is going to marry a Syrian television celebrity that she has never met. She was married once previously and is fearly that this marriage will be as bad and that once inside Syria, the Israelis will never allow her to return. This is overshadowed by the unhappy married life of Mona's sister. Mona's brother Hammed returns to the Golan Heights to attend the wedding after an eight year absense. He has married a Russian doctor, and is considered to be an outcast by the local religious authorities. There is also considerable tension between Hammed and his father Marwan. Marwan loves his son, but is also under pressure by the religious authorities not to condone his son's act. Finally, hanging over everthing is a pro-Syrian rally, supported by Marwan, to show unity with the new president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. Marwan spent considerable time in an Israeli prison and by the terms of his parole can't participate in such rallies. There will be a wedding celebration on the Israeli occupied side, after which Mona will be sent across to meet her groom for the first time. There are some complications at the border between the Israeli and Syrian authorities, and it is unclear if there will be any wedding at all. If you want to know how it ends, watch the movie.

Overall, I found this to be an outstanding film. The acting is superb, and the story well crafted. This is a film about life and about family, and that life goes on even under the Israeli occupation and in spite of all the political silliness between the Syrian and Israeli government. Highly recommended.

A very balanced, sensitive, well-acted film that clearly portrays the problems faced by the Druze community on the Golan with its own culture and secretive religion being overly strident. The Druze on the Golan lived within Syria until 67 and within Israel after 67, but with family now on both sides of the border, they can't show complete loyalty to either side without creating serious problems with the other side, especially as the border isn't necessarily permanently fixed. So they remain split by the current border and can only shout at relatives on the other side. While it's possible to leave one country one country for the other, it will never be possible to return. In the movie, the Syrian Bride is to marry a man on the Syrian side whom she's never met and what should be a time of celebration becomes one of great sorrow as well as she will have to say goodbye forever to her family on the Golan.

But the film doesn't particularly condemn either the Syrians or the Israelis, just their effect on the Druze who are separate from both. The Druze are equally bedeviled by both bureaucracies. While the father of the bride has spent time in Israeli prison for unspecified political offenses, the family has no problem hiring an Israeli to photograph the wedding celebration. Life for the family in the Golan remains heavily complicated due to the political situation, but it goes on. Not all of the problems presented in the film are political either. The film presents the family's personal problems in the community with the forbidden inter-religious marriage and the older daughter's efforts to step outside traditional women's boundaries in her relationship with her own husband. One could hardly ask for more in one film.

Wow, is there great cinema coming out of Israel these days! Director/co-writer Eran Riklis has come up with this masterpiece, 'Syrian Bride', which ranks right up there with the very strong list of brilliant Israeli-produced movies from the past couple of years, including 'Broken Wings', 'Time of Favor', 'Walk on Water', 'Late Marriage', 'Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi'...the list goes on. Each of those is compelling, five-star viewing in my book.

The brilliance of 'Syrian Bride' is in its simple, straightforward depiction of a situation of almost unimaginable political, religious and societal complexity - a Druze family in the Golan Heights, neither Syrian nor Israeli (indeed, it's duly noted that on this family's passports, 'Nationality' is marked 'None'), with a soon-to-be young bride engaged to a Syrian she has never met. The heart of the matter is this: once the young bride-to-be, Mona, crosses the border, there's no going back. She's saying good-bye to her family forever. But, the trick is...crossing that border.

Two small, special things to point out about Riklis' masterpiece (among many):

- The score, original music by French composer Cyril Morin. I'm listening to it right now as I write this review (you can listen to a short loop of it at the syrianbride dot com web site). It perfectly captures the mood of the film.

- The relationship between patriarch Makram Khoury and real-life daughter, the stunning beauty, Clara Khoury as The Bride. There's palpable, real emotion between the two. [In the DVD extras, Ms. Khoury relates that it wasn't hard to tear up in the emotional final scene, given that it was quite easy to envision the emotions that would well up were she to leave her 'real' father - there he was right there.]

Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Makram Khoury and 'Bride' star Hiam Abbass from their all-too-brief appearances in Steven Spielberg's 'Munich.'

This 2004 Israeli film was co-written by a Palestinian with crews from various populations in Israel. The theme is one we've seen before but that is timely, political and frustrating. Wisely, it keeps the story simple, focusing on one particular family and the unbelievable red tape that occurs at a border crossing.

This is a story of an arranged marriage between a Druze woman and a Syrian man.

In the remote area of the Golan Heights, where the bride's family live, the Druze community is considered part of Israel by the Israelis and Syrian by the Syrians. The Druze are a distinct religious community based mostly in the Middle East who are an offshoot of Islam and influenced by other religions and philosophies, including Greek philosophy, Gnosticism and Christianity, among others. The Druze consider themselves politically an Islamic reformatory sect although they are not considered Muslims by most Muslims in the region.

It is a sad time for the bride because she knows that once she crosses the border into Syria, she will never be able to return to Israel again. However, since her future husband is a television personality with a sizable income, it is not inconceivable to realize that the families would be able to meet for a vacation in a neutral vacation place somewhere.

The internal relationships within the bride's family seem to represent all the complex aspects of the political spectrum in Israel today. Her father has recently been in an Israeli prison and is forbidden to attend a celebration in honor of the new Syrian president. Her older sister has just been accepted to further her education in an Israeli university much to her husband's displeasure as he feels he is losing control of his family, especially when he discovers that his teenage daughter is sneaking around with a young man who tends to favor Israel. One of the bride's brothers lives in Russia with his Russian wife and son and brings his family back home for the wedding. The Russian wife, who is a doctor in Russia, has to deal with her female Druze relatives who complain about her kitchen skills. Another brother seems a bit shady as he travels all over the world importing and exporting items which are never named. He romances a French U.N. worker and any other woman who he meets. The bride herself has conflicts about her future husband. She and the filmgoers only see him as his TV personality and he seems a bit of a buffoon.

Most of the high drama happens at the border where the bride, all dressed up in her wedding dress, is literally stopped from entering Syria because she has an Israeli stamp on her papers and the Syrian government doesn't recognize Israel. How it all plays out is a little silly but I guess that's expected because this film is supposed to be a comedy even though I never laughed once. The question was also never answered as to why the bride and groom want to marry each other in the first place.

I rather enjoyed this film because it was set in a part of the world which I know very little about. I felt frustrated throughout though because of the constant red tape but that was what the intent of the film which was only 97 minutes long but still seemed to drag. I had gotten the point long before that.

However, I do recommend this film. It opens up an understanding about the political complexities in the Middle East in a very human way.