indiekeshav Review of In Between

In Between (2016)

In Between (Bar Bahar) - Israel ,2016, 102'min Directed by- Maysaloun Hamound

[8/10 · 3 July 2017]

I saw this film in PIFF - Pune International Film Festival, Maysaloun Hamoud's directional debut is not only inspiring but intelligent. It is a much needed commentary on today's society and I hope more people watch it. In Between (Bar Bahar) was among my favourite films in the festival. This is a film about three Palestinian women sharing a flat together in a metropolitan city in Israel. It revolves and focuses around various themes that are central to the religious and communal feelings of Israel. Layla and Salma are modern liberals who belong to a younger generation. (They drink, they party, they smoke, sometimes weed). They believe in a non-patriarch egalitarian society, where men and women should be treated respectfully. They also believe in a society that is not so conservative about religion. Now enters Nour, a computer science student who is a practising Muslim- she wears a hi-jab, performs her daily prayers. She is about to be married to an Islamist radical who runs a NGO supporting Muslims in need. Nour replaces her cousin sister as Layla's' and Salma's' new flatmate. Their interactions and 'clashes' are very interesting to watch as their different viewpoints collide with one another which creates amusing reactions. The chemistry between these characters is flawless, you cannot help but watch them grow and evolve. This movie had me grabbed by the guts, I was glued to the screen for the entire duration of the film. Each one of these women face a moment or a situation where they are challenged by the society despite being independent in their true nature. Layla is a criminal defence lawyer, she seems to enjoy what she does and she seems pretty good it. She has a witty interactive relationship with her fellow colleagues. However, she is challenged by her boyfriend (a filmmaker coincidental?) who becomes judgemental of her moral ethics. Salma belongs to a Christian family, who works as a cook in restaurant (Which she quits when she was insulted by a coworker) Now she works as a bartender who occasionally takes the role of a DJ. In one of her social interactions, she meets a lesbian, who she falls in love with. She takes her to meet her parents and when they find out about her bisexual nature. They decide to take away her independence from her and keep her at home. She sneaks away and leaves for Berlin, Germany. Nour is subjected to an unhealthy relationship with her fiancé. He wants her to move out of the flat into a choice of his location. However, she refuses his choice as the place was two hours away from her college. Her refusal leads him to violate her sexual, destroying her entirely. Layla and Salma help her through this, they support her, but she is no longer the same person we knew. All of these women have evolved and change. They had two options, either they accept the society they live in or they could choose to fight it back. In the end, I would summarise that the film is about a society that is yet to accept its new generation of people, ideals, morals and values. I think society needs to evolve and change because wearing torn shoes with newspapers won't change anything. Sewing the torn holes and bending the weaker bonds would. Even better is to throw away the old shoe.