Educational Media Reviews Online

This series of five films presents a rare critical insight into contemporary life in the Arab world. It is produced largely by women filmmakers and represents the often unheard voices of women. The films come from 8 countries: Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, and are broken down into five basic themes titled Birth, Youth, Love & Marriage, Work, and Home (or Maids in My Family).

The series begins with Birth. Suheir Farraj (Palestine), Abbas Hashim (Iraq), and Abeer Esber (Syria) tell the story of a Palestinian woman who continually gets pregnant, succumbing to societal pressure to produce a male child. In Iraq, Daoud tells the story of his sick son born under the fairly recent sanctions against his country and its effect on his son’s health, malnourishment, and lack of vaccination. The filmmakers then take us to Syria, where Roza laments her childless situation. She talks about guilt even when she finds out that the problem lies with her husband.

In Youth, the second film in this series, Ali Bilail (Egypt), Samia Chala (Algeria) and Muriel Aboulrouss (Lebanon) illustrate the common experience of youth across cultures. Nancy (Lebanon) rebels against her mother and sisters to gain independence from the tradition that requires her to stay at home, with a list of rules to follow, until she is married. In Egypt and Algeria, we move to the untraditional. Sarah (Egypt) is a soccer athlete and, despite her injury, wins the Women’s Egypt Cup. While her parents are supportive, her brother, along other males, displays typical disapproval, not that this stopped her from achieving her goals. Shara and Linda (Algeria) have their share of fame as an all Female Rap group (The Messengers). This group is popular with the young crowd, with their improvised social and political lyrics, while facing scrutiny from the adult spectators.

The third of this series - Love and Marriage - tells a common story of interfaith marriage. Samia Chala (Algeria) and Muriel Aboulrouss (Lebanon) tell a touching story of a middle aged woman remembering her first and only love that survived the Lebanese Civil War, but crumbled under their family opposition to interfaith marriage. Yet, one is more hopeful as a younger couple continues to fight. In Algeria, you see a young woman prevented from marrying the man she loves because of her smoking and western life-style. However, what is really unique in this film is that it is broaches the subject of homosexuality. The film, however subtle, follows the life of an Algerian hairdresser as he talks about the tolerance, or lack of thereof, from his people towards him and his same-sex partner.

Ghalia Sheikh and Lubna Haddad (Syria), Abbas Hashim (Iraq), and Raed Helou (Palestine) transport us to another aspect that is rarely covered in Work. This fourth film provides a great opportunity to learn about the work culture and attitude in the Middle East, including some of the challenges they face: such as becoming unemployed, holding a job as an illegal resident of her own country, having to abandon family and friends in search of better work opportunities, and even being the only female taxi drivers in Algeria.

In Home, or Maids in My Family, and the final film in this series, the filmmaker tells her own story as a Moroccan woman who confronts the hypocrisy in her family’s views. Her left wing liberal family sees nothing wrong with hiring maids and help, often young with nowhere to go, and no options. She addresses extraordinary questions about this Moroccan family and their values.

Both the second and third films – Youth and Love & Marriage, respectively -- won the 2001 Middle Eastern Association Film Award. Additionally, the second won the 2002 Vermont Women’s Film Festival Award. The quality of sound and cinematography of this series is superb. The films contain a rich source of information on a culture that is often guarded from the west. It dares to bring up strong issues without imposing judgment on the values discussed. The series is a good example of how much more we have to learn about the Middle East – the films managed to raise an eyebrow once or twice, even though I spent almost 20 years in that region. Highly recommended to all kinds of libraries, especially academic libraries with undergraduate studies related to culture, anthropology, or Middle Eastern studies, as well as libraries with internship programs in the Middle East.