Directed by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis, The Syrian Bride tells the story of a Druze woman, Mona, living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The film chronicles a single day- the day she is to be married to a Druze man who lives in Syria. The central conflict is that once she crosses the border into Syria, she will never be allowed to return to the Golan Heights (everything she has known) again. To add to this anxiety, she is to marry a man she’s never actually met.
As the beginning of the movie explains, the people of the Druze religion who live in the Golan Heights are assigned an “undefined” nationality. (For more information on the Druze religion, you can go here.) Some, if not many, Druze in the Golan identify far more closely with Syria, and have a contentious relationship with Israel. They speak Arabic, not Hebrew and identify as Syrian, not Israeli. (I should add that there is a considerable Druze population living in Israel who, as a whole, have substantially different opinions of Israel. They are Israeli citizens who are known for committed military service and feel a great deal of loyalty to the Israeli state.) Their travel in and out of the Golan is monitored, and if one adopts a Syrian nationality (say, through marriage) one cannot return to the Golan Heights again.
The film paints a beautifully complicated and detailed picture of life in the Golan Heights. Marriage, or more specifically weddings, seem to be an excellent vehicle for exploring the complexity of daily life in many Middle Eastern countries. Another film I recently watched is Rana’s Wedding, and both films star Clara Khoury as the bride (a role she plays extremely well.) They’re each about the frustration of trying to celebrate life under occupation. It is profoundly frustrating to live life on a day to day basis dealing with border crossings, boundaries, and checkpoints- much less on a day that is supposed to be full of joy, family, and celebration. The Syrian Bride captures this dilemma with a great deal of sympathy.
If you are interested, I have posted the American version of the trailer below. I have watched the original trailer and this one, and I much prefer the original. For one thing, it has much more of the film’s commonly used languages (Arabic and Hebrew) and I think it gives a better snapshot of the entire film. The American trailer shows mostly clips of the film in English and focuses on the drama at the end of the film. In any case, I think you should make a point to see the whole movie and not just watch the trailer.
زواج zouwaj
:wedding
عروس ‘arous
:bride
عروس سورية ‘arous suriya
:the Syrian Bride (title of the movie in Arabic)
