SYRIAN BRIDE [DVD] - Good

Good - USED BOOK: This book is in good condition with moderate signs of wear. It may contain some highlighting or markings but remains generally clean. The cover may have minor shelf wear, and pages might show slight creasing. Despite these signs of use, the book is well-maintained and fully readable.

Amazon.ca A statement about borders--and the absurdity of bureaucracy--The Syrian Bride strides sucessfully between tragedy and comedy. Mona (olive-eyed Clara Khoury, Rana's Wedding) is the bride. She lives in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Israel-occupied Golan Heights. According to the opening title, "Druze loyalty is split between Syria and Israel." Tallel (Derar Sliman), her husband-to-be, resides in Damascus. She has never met him--though she has seen him on TV (he's a soap star). Once Mona crosses into Syria, she won't be allowed to return. Hence her wedding day begins on a somber note. Mona’s family has problems of its own. Political dissident father Hammed (Makram J. Khoury, Clara's real-life paterfamilias) has recently been released from jail, and it looks as if he may be sent back again (for defying parole). Older sister Amal (Paradise Now’s Hiam Abbass, who steals the show with her slow-burning intensity) is experiencing her own marital strife, while her daughter is seeing a pro-Israeli Druze. As for Mona’s brothers, Hammed refuses to speak to Hattem (Eyad Sheety), who moved to Russia eight years ago and has returned for the wedding, non-Muslim wife and son in tow. And just in from shady business dealing in Italy is Marwan (Ashraf Barhom), the family screw-up, i.e. a gap-toothed charmer devoid of scruples. Directed by Israel's Eran Riklis (Borders ) and co-written by Suha Arraf, a Palestinian-Israeli, The Syrian Bride takes an occasionally schematic, if admirably even-handed look at ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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