The Syrian Bride - Austin American-Statesman movie review

Wedding a joyous occasion? Not for 'The Syrian Bride'

By JOHN DeFORE
Austin American-Statesman

Mona is getting married today. As her sister and nieces accompany her to the beauty salon and watch her don her bridal gown, everyone is a bit weepy — not in the usual, childhood's-end sort of way, but because they'll never see one another again after the vows are exchanged.

Koch Lorber Films

'The Syrian Bride'

2 out of 5 stars

Director: Eran Riklis
Starring: Clara Khoury, Makram Khouri
Run time: 97 minutes
Release date: Nov. 16, 2005
Rating: Not rated.
Language: In Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles.

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Official movie site

Why? Mona's family lives in a Druze village in the Golan Heights where loyalties are split between Israel and Syria. Residents' passports have no specified nationality, and those who cross into Syria — where Mona (Clara Khoury) will go to live with the groom — are forbidden to return. She must really love the guy.

Actually, Mona has never met her fiancé. It's an arranged marriage, and given the amount of glumness it's provoking, most American viewers will spend the bulk of the film wondering why the family is going through with the thing. The question is annoying rather than intriguing, and the film only hints at answers: The two marriages we see within the village, those of Mona's parents and her sister, are less than ideal. Yet her brother's international match appears to be a happy pairing. Without saying so, the film suggests that self-fulfillment requires leaving the village behind.

But what a sin it is to do that! Mona's brother, who married a Russian, is now an outcast. He comes home for the wedding, only to have his father ignore him and the village elders refuse to join the festivities. Her father, meanwhile, risks arrest if he attends the ceremony: A former political prisoner, he is forbidden to visit the border zone where the event must be held.

All these constraints make "The Syrian Bride" a promising entry in the long history of wedding-disaster comedy. But filmmakers Eran Riklis and Suha Arraf don't quite want to go that route. They seem to think some of this is funny, but their tone is dour and the film's soundtrack is weighed down with serious string arrangements. They might believe they've made a comedy, but most Westerners will probably disagree.

The last third of the film is set in the no-man's land where Israel and Syria meet. Civilians on both sides, who must communicate via bullhorns, have gathered to witness the marriage, but a paperwork nightmare arises: As she leaves Israeli-occupied territory, Mona's passport is stamped by Israel. Because Syria refuses to acknowledge Israel, officials on that side will not let her enter.

Again, the filmmakers aren't interested in the screwball potential of this diplomatic fiasco. Instead, we trudge back and forth between border posts, watching a U.N. official beg each side to overlook the other's actions. The scene might be helpful for Americans, most of whom have few ways of personalizing this long political feud. But it's not very entertaining, especially when nobody seems to much want the wedding causing all this hassle.