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A statement about borders--and the absurdity of bureaucracy--
The Syrian Bride strides sucessfully between tragedy and comedy. Mona (olive-eyed Clara Khoury,
Rana's Wedding) is the bride. She lives in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. According to the opening title, "Druze loyalty is split between Syria and Israel." Tallel (Derar Sliman), her husband-to-be, resides in Damascus. She has never met him--though she
has seen him on TV (he's a soap star). Once Mona crosses into Syria, she won't be allowed to return. Hence her wedding day begins on a somber note. Mona’s family has problems of its own. Political dissident father Hammed (Makram J. Khoury, Clara's real-life
paterfamilias) has recently been released from jail, and it looks as if he may be sent back again (for defying parole). Older sister Amal (
Paradise Now’s Hiam Abbass, who steals the show with her slow-burning intensity) is experiencing her own marital strife, while her daughter is seeing a pro-Israeli Druze. As for Mona’s brothers, Hammed refuses to speak to Hattem (Eyad Sheety), who moved to Russia eight years ago and has returned for the wedding, non-Muslim wife and son in tow. And just in from shady business dealing in Italy is Marwan (Ashraf Barhom), the family screw-up, i.e. a gap-toothed charmer devoid of scruples. Directed by Israel's Eran Riklis (
Borders ) and co-written by Suha Arraf, a Palestinian-Israeli,
The Syrian Bride takes an occasionally schematic, if admirably even-handed look at ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances.
--Kathleen C. Fennessy
On the DVD
Commentary with director Eran Riklis
Interview with Hiam Abbass
"Making of" featurette
Original theatrical trailer
U.S. theatrical trailer
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