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THE SYRIAN BRIDE
Directed by: Eran Riklis.
Produced by: Bettina Brokemper, Antonine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Eran Riklis & Michael Eckelt.
Written by: Suha Arraf & Eran Riklis.
Director of Photography: Michael Wiesweg.
Edited by: Tova Asher.
Music by: Cyril Morin.
Released by: Koch Lorber.
Language: Arabic, English & Hebrew with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Israel/France/Germany. 97 min. Not Rated.
With: Hiam Abbass, Makram J. Khoury & Clara Khoury.
DVD Features: Commentary by director Eran Riklis. Making-of featurette. Interview with Hiam Abbass. Trailers.

Their "nationality undefined," Mona (Clara Khoury) and her family reside in a Druze village in the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967. She is engaged to Tallel, a Syrian television star whom she has never met but has only seen on TV. (Tallel's producers ask him about his soon-to-be wife, and all he reveals of her is a beautiful headshot, to which everyone responds "Yes, she is quite beautiful.") In order to wed, Mona must cross the Israeli-Syrian border, after which, due to political strains, she will never be allowed to reenter. Thus, her wedding day ironically becomes the saddest day of her life.

It is the Syrian bride's sister, and not the bride herself, that the audience first sees in the opening scene: Amal (Hiam Abbass, recently of Paradise Now), a 40-something-year-old woman with beautiful dark features, laying stiffly in bed, gazing solemnly into the camera. An immediate bond forms between the viewer and Amal, who effectively diverts much of the film's focus away from her 25-year-old sister. Amal emerges as the strongest character, both as a result of Abbass' superior acting skills and a much-emphasized role, while Mona reveals little more than one dimension. Extensive lingering shots of her exotic blue-eyed beauty move her into the limelight at times, but she never fully comes out from under her sister's shadow.

The lack of characterization subjects Mona to a symbolic role, a metaphor for the suffering which this family, and especially the women, continually experience. Amal, for example, is extremely unhappy in her current marriage; her husband forbids her to attend university, believing men are only men if they can control their wives. Then there is Mona's Russian sister-in-law, an outcast from the family altogether because of her ethnicity (Mona's father hasn't spoken to his son for eight years due to his marrying Evelyna). Amal even calls Mona "a sacrifice," referring to the family's devastation in marrying her off.

Mona can be regarded as a metaphor - an "undefined" nationality means an "undefined" Mona. She's objectified to the point that she is little more than the accumulation of others' perceptions of her. As illustrated in much modern Arabic literature (including Nedjma by Kateb Yacine and Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih), colonized/occupied countries tend to take on an air of femininity resulting from the literal domination forced upon them. Thus, Eran Riklis' film becomes a seamless merging of documentary, fiction, and political commentary, as well as an intimate portrait of a much-neglected area of the Middle East, with a symbolic woman at its center.
November 12, 2005

DVD Extras: Most interesting about the making-of extra are the one-on-one interviews with each lead actor. Though no one reveals any profound insight (a generic “it is about life” is all we ever really get from anyone, including the director), it is somewhat entertaining to see Clara Khoury (who plays the bride Mona) clad in urban-chic jeans and tee rather than her high-cut white wedding dress. Her blond hair renders her virtually unrecognizable in relation to the demurely traditional Mona. Actress Hiam Abbass’ one-on-one unexpectedly includes her religiously stringent parents, who publicly announce their displeasure in her decision to go into acting. Her defensive father announces that since she is now married, she has only to obey her husband. Her mother adds, “She is his responsibility now,” while Abbass sits nervously in between them, her shifting eyes diverted from the camera. A more politically-oriented interview with Abbass at the Hamptons International Film Festival reaffirms her superior acting skills in the film (none of the other actors had an individual interview-extra). But despite her overshadowing performance, one is also unlikely to forget Khoury’s piercingly sad blue eyes, or her subtle performance. Parisa Vaziri
June 6, 2006