The Syrian Bride (2004)

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, a television comedian that works in the... See full summary »

Director:

Eran Riklis

Writers:

Suha Arraf, Eran Riklis

Stars:

Hiam Abbass, Makram Khoury, Clara Khoury

8 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hiam Abbass	...	Amal (as Hiyam Abbass)
Makram Khoury	...	Hammed (as Makram J. Khoury)
Clara Khoury	...	Mona
Ashraf Barhom	...	Marwan (as Ashraf Barhoum)
Ali Suliman	...	Syrian Officer 2
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

Storyline

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, a television comedian that works in the Revolution Studios in Damascus, Syria. They have never met each other because of the occupation of the area by Israel since 1967; when Mona moves to Syria, she will lose her undefined nationality and will never be allowed to return home. Mona's father Hammed is a political activist pro-Syria that is on probation by the Israeli government. His older son Hatten married a Russian woman eight years ago and was banished from Majdal Shams by the religious leaders and his father. His brother Marwan is a wolf trader that lives in Italy. His sister Amal has two teenager daughters and has the intention to join the university, but her marriage with Amin is in crisis. When the family gathers for Mona's wedding, an insane bureaucracy jeopardizes the ceremony.

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Plot Keywords:

syria | wedding | political activist | border | israel | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Océan Films [France] Official site [Israel]

Country:

France Germany Israel

Language:

Arabic English Hebrew Russian French

Release Date:

2 December 2004 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Die syrische Braut

Filming Locations:

Galilee, Israel

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$7,235 (USA) (18 November 2005)

Gross:

$375,574 (USA) (23 June 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eran Riklis Productions, Neue Impuls Film, MACT Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie joke about gap-toothed men being seductive to women was an in-joke by the co-scriptwriter Suha Arraf, toward Mr. Riklis, who is himself gap-toothed. She also included many of her own experiences as an intelligent independent Arab woman living in Israel.

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Goofs

The UN agent says on July 17th 2000 that it's a Thursday. That date was a Monday.

User Reviews

An excellent film, well portrayed

The plot has been well described in earlier comments. During the film I was reminded of an early computer game called Bureaucracy where every effort to accomplish something was met by official stumbling blocks. The four language dialog and actual site of the film added a true sense of reality. The English subtitles and the facial expressions of the actors were more than adequate to convey the emotional content of the story. After a few minutes into the film, I became unaware of the fact that I was reading the dialog and was totally immersed in the plot. The father's acceptance of the errant son visiting from Russia was very touching and realistic. The older sister's walk away from the border was somewhat enigmatic to me. The end of the film left a very big question in my mind. Did the Syrian border guard let the bride into Syria?