Rana's Wedding (2003)

Hany Abu-Assad has proved himself with this film, 'Ford Transit', and 'Paradise Now', to be one of the most interesting and astute chroniclers of the Palestinian experience in Jerusalem.The plot is simple: A young Palestinian woman must decide whether to defy tradition and marry her boyfriend that day, or leave forever with her father, and enter an arranged marriage in another land.The film sometimes meanders, but has some very powerful sequences, giving a strong sense of the realities of life under occupation, and some sweetly human comic moments showing the universality of humanity in all cultures. Very good lead performances all around.

The only thing about this movie that is worthy of a recommendation are the nice location shots. I've never been to Israel or the Palestinian territories, so it was nice to see a modern view of this always-in-the-news region. But, story-wise, this film is a mediocre effort. The pace is agonizingly slow and anti-climactic as the heroine that we're supposed to care about locates her true love halfway through the movie and then we're forced to follow this uninteresting couple as they try to round up the family and have a quick wedding ceremony. There is a movie here. It's a young girl's journey to check out each and every one of the potential (and father-approved) suitors on the list. One charming moment in the film was when the girl and her boyfriend peek into the offices of a young lawyer who's on the list. She's never seen him before so she's naturally curious to check him out as she tells her boyfriend. How much more interesting it would have been to have the girl meet all her potential suitors, compare them to her rather mundane actor-boyfriend, and make a grown-up decision. That would have been a real journey worth filming.

I will long remember the acting of Clara Khoury in the main role in this film. I do not know if she is a professional actress or not, but she could be. She acts beautifully with her eyes and facial expressions. Many of the greatest films in history especially by French and Italian filmmakers have used non-professional actors in their films. The film is especially valuable in showing the fact that normal everyday life can go on even under foreign occupation.I admit to bias in favor of the Palestinians in their quest for freedom from Israeli occupation, but I actually thought this film was deeply moving as pure drama. The visual sweep of the film, the music and the deeply moving poetic fragment at the end were almost overwhelming.I certainly hope that Kino Video or some such distributor of quality foreign films will pick this up for distribution, although I suspect certain influential political action committees might object.Highly Recommended.

A fair depiction of the hardships under occupation, and the customs of the middle class Muslim Palestinians in Jerusalem. Perhaps because it was filmed in Jerusalem streets under such adversity, this film is a bit amateurish with mismatched music substituting for compelling acting.