Educational Media Reviews Online

American news reports of Palestinian life in Jerusalem tend to focus on tragedy rather than triumph. Rana’s Wedding is a film about triumphs, albeit small ones. It’s also a reminder of how love and ritual endure even in the harshest environments.

The story takes place in a single day, from sunrise to 4:00 p.m. Rana (the excellent Clara Khoury), a strong-willed 17 year-old Palestinian girl living in East Jerusalem, has been given an ultimatum by her father: select a “suitable” husband from his list, or accompany him that same day on an extended trip to Egypt. Rejecting both options, she secretly leaves home to meet with her true love, Khalil (Khalifa Natour), the man she hopes to marry. Because Rana is underage, her father must not only approve her marriage but also witness it. The film follows Rana’s journey through the West Bank as she attempts to locate and marry Khalil before the 4:00 p.m. deadline when her father leaves for Egypt. As if this weren’t difficult enough, the setting is an occupied area where long lines, red tape, and violence are commonplace.

Jerusalem, as much as Clara Khoury, is the star of the film; and as Rana crisscrosses its streets and alleys, she ponders how the city has reached this point and how its complex personality is imprinted on residents. “Boy, we’ve forgotten how to love or feel,” she muses while gazing out a bus window at passing roadblocks, checkpoints, and sandbags piled high. Throughout her journey we are constantly aware of the soldiers, even when relegated to the background. The film seamlessly integrates documentary footage of real soldiers and civilians into the narrative, and the fictional story seems largely unstaged. One gets the impression the filmmakers faced challenges not unlike those of the characters.

The story constantly examines the effects of occupation - a way of life in which the most innocuous acts can lead to disaster. In one darkly comical scene, Rana, frustrated at not reaching Khalil on her cell phone, screams and nearly smashes the phone in frustration - only to be stopped short by a row of soldiers, rifles poised, who momentarily take her for a terrorist. In the opening scene when packing to leave, Rana transfers her valuables from a suitcase to a clear plastic bag, which should arouse less suspicion from the soldiers. But later, after accidentally leaving the bag on a sidewalk, she frantically returns to find the area roped off, a nearby crowd gathered as a military robot probes the bag for explosives. Rana watches morosely as the robot destroys her valuables and someone in the crowd snorts “all that fuss for a bag of rubbish.”

When Rana finally locates Khalil – he has stayed overnight in the theater where he works because a nearby explosion made it unwise to leave – the wedding plans finally begin. A registrar must be hired to conduct the ceremony, a wedding dress must be found, and most importantly Rana’s father must be convinced Khalil will make a suitable husband. Humor carries the lovers through some of these obstacles. In one scene, Khalil ends a sober discussion with Rana by mugging and pantomiming for a surveillance camera. But more often, their challenges are met with grim determination and resourcefulness. Each success is a small triumph, and the wedding seems increasingly tangible.

In a final hurdle, the wedding registrar is caught at a checkpoint and can’t get through. Time is running out. So the wedding party goes to him. Rana and Khalil are married in a crowded taxi in the middle of a checkpoint, with Rana’s blasé father – whose face we now see for the first time – witnessing. In the film’s final shot, the newlyweds step on to the sidewalk to perform a ceremonial wedding dance, surrounded by creeping cars, cement pilings, roadblocks, and guards -- a wedding in a war zone. A matter-of-fact but hopeful look at everyday life under extraordinary circumstances, Rana’s Wedding is recommended.