THE SYRIAN BRIDE would probably best be appreciated by those who understand the intricacies of border rules and inter-country regulations that dominate the plot of this well made but a bit obtuse film.
The story takes place on the wedding day of a beautiful bride, a Druze woman in Majd Alshams, a pro-Syrian village located in the conflicted Golan heights (factions pro-Syrian and pro-Israeli live uncomfortably in Druze villages). Our bride is to marry (by arrangement - she has never met him) a Syrian TV soap opera celebrity. The problem arises in that this will be the last time that she sees her family as once she crosses the border into Syria accepting Syrian citizenship, she can never return to the Golan Heights to see her family. The wedding is further complicated by the return visit of her brother who has been away for 8 years having married a Russian by whom he has a son: the brother and the son are in conflict. And to make things worse, the paperwork at the border to allow the bride to join her husband to be in the wedding is held up by political paperwork. How all of these factors impact the bride's future is played out by the families on both sides.
The script tries to make the story seem credible but to those of us who still don't understand the intricacies of the territorial parceling of that area of the world or the traditions of Arab marriage etc, this plot seems ponderous and heavy. The actors are all excellent and there is something in each character with which we can identify. A little background on customs before the film begins would have helped immensely as the movie itself is very well done. Grady Harp
The story takes place on the wedding day of a beautiful bride, a Druze woman in Majd Alshams, a pro-Syrian village located in the conflicted Golan heights (factions pro-Syrian and pro-Israeli live uncomfortably in Druze villages). Our bride is to marry (by arrangement - she has never met him) a Syrian TV soap opera celebrity. The problem arises in that this will be the last time that she sees her family as once she crosses the border into Syria accepting Syrian citizenship, she can never return to the Golan Heights to see her family. The wedding is further complicated by the return visit of her brother who has been away for 8 years having married a Russian by whom he has a son: the brother and the son are in conflict. And to make things worse, the paperwork at the border to allow the bride to join her husband to be in the wedding is held up by political paperwork. How all of these factors impact the bride's future is played out by the families on both sides.
The script tries to make the story seem credible but to those of us who still don't understand the intricacies of the territorial parceling of that area of the world or the traditions of Arab marriage etc, this plot seems ponderous and heavy. The actors are all excellent and there is something in each character with which we can identify. A little background on customs before the film begins would have helped immensely as the movie itself is very well done. Grady Harp