aFrenchparadox It's so rich thematic wise that I don't know what to start with. It's about the hell of the Middle-East situation. It's about the absurdity this situation can lead to. So absurd sometimes that it sounds like this of 'Asterix's twelve tasks' where he has to find his way in a seemingly French (but Roman) bureaucratic public administration. Yes, so absurd it turns to grotesque and becomes funny. Despite the hell it is actually. It's about the weight of the community on your life. About the weight politics have on your life, want it or not. It's also about sisterhood and brotherhood. It's hence 'Waltz with Bachir', 'Ve'lakhta lehe isha', 'L'esquive', 'Little Jerusalem' and 'The bubble' themes in 92 minutes of subtleness. With some magnificent actresses moreover. The bride, Clara Khoury, and above all the bride's sister, Hiam Abbass (also in 'Lemon tree'), the dignity embodied. It's 'just' another gem by Eran Riklis.

Neil Turner A woman residing in the Golan Heights wishes to marry a Syrian. This would seem only a matter of concern to friends and family, but this is the Middle East. Because of the animosity between Israel and Syria, once the marriage takes place the bride is forbidden from ever visiting her friends and family in the Golan Heights. This entire film takes place on the day of the marriage but within those twelve short hours, we are treated to a look at a complex yet comic, tragic yet uplifting view of a most interesting family. The father is a noted leader against the occupation of the Golan Heights and has served time in prison because of his political beliefs. The older son has been rejected by his father and the community because he moved to Russia and married a Russian doctor. A younger son is a somewhat comic wheeler-dealer whose business practices are a little more than shady. The elder daughter is a fiercely independent woman married to a traditional man. The bride-to-be is a beautiful, sad woman previously married to a bad man who is going into an arranged marriage with a Syrian man she has never met.Even though the title is The Syrian Bride, the film is really focused upon the elder daughter and her striving for a better psychological life for herself and her two daughters. Evelyn Kaplun who plays the elder daughter is an extraordinary actress - so strong - yet tender. Her strength and tenderness is the keystone of the film, and it is she who is able to mediate all of the conflicts of her relatives and the government in an attempt at happiness for her younger sister. It is an irony of the political climate of the film that she would probably not be able to be as independent and autonomous had she not been living in an area occupied by Israel as she surely would have been stifled by a Syrian society that is more restrictive of women.There's an interesting sidelight to Ms. Kaplun's performance in that in the DVD special features, there is an interview with her real parents both whom appear to be very conservative. You see a very nervous Ms. Kaplun sitting between her parents while her father goes on about how his daughter is involved in a "forbidden" profession. I'm sure the theme of the film hit very much at home with her.The bride played with low-keyed brilliance by Clara Khoury actually represents the untenable political situation of the area. She never is quite able to escape from her overall sadness and sits almost emotionless throughout the film while all levels of chaos take place about her. Ms. Khoury in her "emotionless" performance reveals all the harsh, raw emotions of the situation.The Syrian Bride gives us a sobering picture of nice, ordinary people trying to survive and find happiness within systems of government so involved in hate and ideology that they actually punish rather than sustain their own citizens.

lmahayni As an Arab-American who spent her childhood in the shadow of the Isreali occupied Golan Heights, I found many memories from my childhood coming back. How ridiculous the most simple task can become when politics enters the picture! Anyone who wants personal insight into the Isreali-Arab conflict, should watch this. It's about as realistic as it can get. This seemingly simple tale is fraught with all the obvious and subtle problems of a family and a community living under the restrictions of international politics. Whenever it starts to seem trite, it will surprise you with some detail or twist that reveals a depth that is never allowed to show on the surface. The plot is simple: a bride gets ready for her wedding... Not so simple, apparently.Is the policeman a heartless occupying force? Is the father an iceberg? Is a border officer capable of setting policy for his entire Nation? Can the hopes of one woman survive this emotional day? You'll explore these questions while you become attached to the characters engaged in this drama. The acting is seamless, the scripting spare, and the production value is appropriate to the story being told.The bottom line is that you should see this movie. If you watch it on DVD, be sure to watch the extras. The film was shot in Arabic and Hebrew (with a smattering of French and English), with English subtitles. Sometimes the subtitles flash by too quickly; but that's my only "major" complaint.

noralee "The Syrian Bride" uses the familiar comic genre of the colliding tensions in an extended family wedding to humanistically illuminate Middle East political, gender, generational, religious, modernization and economic tensions coming down to human relationships vs. bureaucracies.Co-writers Suha Arraf (a Palestinian journalist) and Israeli director Eran Riklis pile almost too much on to this one Druze (Israeli Arab) family living in the occupied Golan Heights in order to make the personal political. The tensions, poignancy and symbolism of a wedding are heightened because when this bride leaves her home for her arranged marriage with a Syrian celebrity, she will not be able to return home.Every complicated character has a complicated background, whether theirs or their parents' politics or their religiosity or their dress or their educational or romantic aspirations-- and is in a complicated relation to every other character and the authorities.In addition to the return of prodigal sons from overseas, the larger community intrudes on the intra-family tensions, from robed tribal elders and the police who each bring warnings of proper behavior to a comical videographer. My dependency on English subtitles lessened some of the impact of hearing characters switch from Arabic to Hebrew to French to Russian to English to communicate, as part of the interactions are based on who can understand different languages and who can't. This complex in-gathering all symbolically happens the same day as a demonstration in support of the change over of power in Syria from the father the dictator to the son, while a flat tire leads to a crucial delay. The ubiquitous television, and government attention, however, is focused on the West Bank, making this border a forgotten zone as well as a no (wo)man's land. What makes it all hang together amidst this human comedy is the central focus from the start to the finish on the almost silent bride, dressed in Western white, and her more verbal older sister, rebelliously in slacks, and both played by powerful actresses. Each has made choices in the past they regret and each chooses their future now, despite the efforts of all their male relatives, let alone global politics, to thwart them and make them helpless. Even with the heavy-handed baggage of all the "Crash"-like coincidences, the film beautifully makes the point that politics isn't just ideology but affects how people get on with the basics of their lives.