A Lebanese film which introduces us to a village that is half Christian, half Muslim. This is a place where peace has broken out after years of division and fighting. I was once told that in Lebanon they would drink wine and make love, and that they would have a war every twenty five years. This is maybe a little more frivolous than the truth of course. The beginning of the film, however, shows the villagers coming together in celebration to watch a television that has been set up on a hill. The mayor tells the citizens that this is their progression from the 20th century to the 21st.
If only life was so simple. The rest of the film is concerned with the women of the town first of all stopping the men hearing about multi-faith violence and then subsequently stopping them from taking part in this violence themselves. It’s the women who have continually picked the pieces after these conflicts, where the too young are buried in the village’s cemetery. Tellingly there is a pathway dividing the two halves of the cemetery so that those of different faiths cannot be buried together.
It’s curious in the film that all the men, both Christian and Muslim, who are happy to bring up the divisions at every given opportunity, dress in a broadly similar way. It’s therefore difficult to tell what their faith is from their appearance. The women, however, are unified in their purpose and dress according to their faith.
At times I was reminded of Cinema Paradiso. There are plenty of examples of how an uncomplicated life can have its benefits. There is however the recurrent threat of ethnic violence hanging over the villagers. The film doesn’t try to preach to people, it really asks what can we do to alleviate the situation we’ve found ourselves in. How do we make life better for ourselves? Where do we go from here?
No comments:
Post a Comment