MIRAL

Like his previous 4 movies filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s latest work is essentially biographical and whilst it is probably his weakest one to date, it is also his most controversial.  Based on Rula Jebreal’s autobiographical novel it traces the lives of four Palestinian women from the last days before the State of Israel was formed in 1948 right up to the 1990’s.

Hind Husseni the first of the women starts an Orphanage and School for the all the Arab children whose parents have been killed in the struggles.  Nadia flees an abusive home only to end up in an Israeli prison where she meets Fatima who is serving several life sentences for her failed attempt at terrorism.  Nadia commits suicide abandoning her daughter Miral to her father a Mosque Employee, who manages to place his daughter at Ms Hussein’s Home, thus linking all the women’s stories

Miral grows up in the first intifada In the 1980’s which greatly limits the freedom of all Arabs and thus awakes her political conscience into becoming an activist much to the chagrin of her religious father and Ms Husseni, both mindful of the dangers such activities can bring to not only Miral, but to the community as a whole.

Schnabel’s telling of this very legitimate struggle is muddled and highly emotional mainly due to a less than perfect script which results in confusion at times.  He set such a high standard with his previous movies that anything less is a tad disapointing, but it is still very watchable regardless. Schnabel does take great strides to be as objective as he can about the whole Palestinian situation and their demands for a State of their own.  I personally thought he really succeeded with a very balanced viewpoint that never took sides but just told the story as it was, and think some of the accusations of being either anti-Israeli or pro-Palestine are totally unfounded.

The photography is, as you would expect from a Schnabel movie is excellent and make for a visually stunning film. That, and the fact it makes a refreshing change to see another side of how this long struggle has tragically affected so many lives, makes this a movie really worth adding to one’s list. 

★★★★★★
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