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| Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) and Nour (Olympe Borval) in Wedding Song. |
Tragedy in Tunisia
By John Esther
Nour (Olympe Borval) and Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) have been lifelong friends although Nour is a sheltered, uneducated Muslim and Myriam is a rebellious, freethinking Jew.
Their cultural identities are hardly an issue until Nazis occupy Tunisia and start spreading their anti-Jew propaganda. It sure helps to blame someone else when you are doing bad things.
Thanks to great encouragement and assistance from Myriam, Nour, joyfully, is about to marry her cousin, Khaled (Najib Oudghin), a loafer. Meanwhile, Myriam’s mother, Tita (writer-director Karin Albou), is arranging Myriam to marry Raoul (Simon Abkarian), a rich Jewish doctor who can well afford the Jewish tax imposed on the occupiers. What is a young girl bordering on womanhood to do under such circumstances?
Told almost exclusively from the point of view of the female characters, this politically/emotionally/sexually-charged film illustrates Albou (La Petite Jerusalem) one of the most original cinematic voices of the past five years.
Nour (Olympe Borval) and Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) have been lifelong friends although Nour is a sheltered, uneducated Muslim and Myriam is a rebellious, freethinking Jew.
Their cultural identities are hardly an issue until Nazis occupy Tunisia and start spreading their anti-Jew propaganda. It sure helps to blame someone else when you are doing bad things.
Thanks to great encouragement and assistance from Myriam, Nour, joyfully, is about to marry her cousin, Khaled (Najib Oudghin), a loafer. Meanwhile, Myriam’s mother, Tita (writer-director Karin Albou), is arranging Myriam to marry Raoul (Simon Abkarian), a rich Jewish doctor who can well afford the Jewish tax imposed on the occupiers. What is a young girl bordering on womanhood to do under such circumstances?
Told almost exclusively from the point of view of the female characters, this politically/emotionally/sexually-charged film illustrates Albou (La Petite Jerusalem) one of the most original cinematic voices of the past five years.
A rare chance to see it again, The Wedding Song made my list of Top Ten Films of 2009.
Highly Recommended.
(The Wedding Song screens Oct. 23, 3:30 p.m. at Writers Guild of America Theater, Los Angeles. For more information: http://www.arabfilmfestival.org/film_detail.php?id=960)
Highly Recommended.
(The Wedding Song screens Oct. 23, 3:30 p.m. at Writers Guild of America Theater, Los Angeles. For more information: http://www.arabfilmfestival.org/film_detail.php?id=960)
