The Syrian Bride (2004)

Director:

Eran Riklis

Writers:

Suha Arraf (writer)
Eran Riklis (writer)

Release Date:

2 December 2004 (Israel)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

In Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in Golan Heights on the Israeli-Syrian border, the Druze bride Mona is engaged to get married with Tallel...

Awards:

7 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

Hiam Abbass	...	Amal (as Hiyam Abbass)
Makram Khoury	...	Hammed (as Makram J. Khoury)
Clara Khoury	...	Mona
Ashraf Barhom	...	Marwan (as Ashraf Barhoum)
Eyad Sheety	...	Hattem
Evelyn Kaplun	...	Evelyna (as Evelyne Kaplun)
Julie-Anne Roth	...	Jeanne
Adnan Tarabshi	...	Amin (as Adnan Trabshi)
Marlene Bajali	...	The Mother (as Marlene Bajjali)
Uri Gavriel	...	Simon (as Uri Gabriel)
Alon Dahan	...	Arik
Robert Henig	...	Joseph (as Robert Hoenig)
Dirar Suleiman	...	Tallel
Ranin Boulos	...	Mai
Hanna Abou-Manneh	...	Rama

Also Known As:

Fiancée syrienne, La (France)
Kala Ha-Surit, Ha- (Israel: Hebrew title)
Syrische Braut, Die (Germany)

Runtime:

97 min | Israel:96 min

Country:

France | Germany | Israel

Language:

Arabic | English | Hebrew | Russian | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Germany:o.Al. | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:Atp | France:U | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Galilee, Israel

Company:

Eran Riklis Productions

Trivia:

Makram Khoury and Clara Khoury are father and daughter in the film as well as in real life.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mona's father says he has raised her for 25 years. However, she states her birth date as November 30th 1976 and the movie is set on July 17th 2000. That would make her only 23 years old.

A wedding

A wedding in the family, usually a happy event for everyone involved, turns out to be a sad affair. This particular one will mark the destiny of Mona, a young Druze woman living in the Golan Heights, now under Israeli rule. Like her parents, Mona considers herself Syrian. She stands to lose the privilege of ever going back, even for a visit, when she crosses the border where her future husband, a Syrian actor, awaits for her with his own entourage.

"The Syrian Bride" was a surprise. Directed with honesty by Eran Riklis, who also co-wrote the screen play with Suha Arraf, the film takes no sides between one faction, or another. In many ways, the movie seems to be sympathetic toward the Druze family, but in no way it felt preachy, or frankness in its presentation of what goes on in that troubled part of the world.

The family at the center of the story is not a happy one. The father, Hammed, has been in prison for his pro-Syrian views. He has also estranged himself from his two sons, Hattem, who has married a Russian doctor and now lives abroad and Marwan, a businessman of sorts, based in Italy. The oldest daughter, Amal, a sensitive woman, has a troubled marriage herself to a man who can't understand her need to assert herself and go to college. It is a male dominated society where women don't seem to have much to contribute except have children and be housewives.

Most impressive in the film is Hiam Abbass, an actress we have admired from her previous work, notably, "Satin Rouge" and "Paradise Now". She has a quiet way of getting under the skin of the role she is playing; this woman shows such dignity in her work that it's hard to take ones eyes from her once she is on the screen. Makram Khoury is seen as the patriarch, Hammed. Clare Khoury is also effective as the bride who must leave family and friends to go to another world. Eyad Sheety and Ashraf Barhom play the two brothers.

"The Syrian Bride" is a satisfying film by Eran Riklis, a talented director who shows great sensibility toward the material.