W Halla’ La Wein?

(Seriously, if you haven’t seen the movie and are planning to, then don’t read this post.)

It will make you laugh, cry, think…it will inspire you, depress you, and then lift you up… that’s Nadine Labaki’s new movie: W Halla’ La Wein?

It takes place in a distant and isolated Lebanese village during the Lebanese civil war, during the time of conflict between Muslims and Christians. The villagers are a mixture of both religions determined to live in harmony while trying to ignore the war going on around them; well at least the women are.

This movie is full of hidden meanings, and each scene or situation could be interpreted differently.

It shows how the Lebanese community doesn’t really have any problems within it except those that come from the outside; be it politics or regional conflicts. On the other hand the same scene could really be an indication of how fragile the Lebanese community is. It shows that religious figures such as a sheikh and a priest struggle to calm the people within their ranks because both religions are about peace and love not hate and bloodshed. It shows how women are greatly impacted by the war; especially on an emotional level either by losing their husbands or children, thus making them more eager to preserve the peace. Or it can reflect how women have a very significant role in calming angry hearts and distracting the men from the conflict. The movie even addresses forbidden love between two people from different religions, and how silence is better than stirring the hidden intolerance.

Nadine was very careful in keeping the balance between both sides. She was clear in portraying how both sides lost, and could continue to lose. She shows how both sides are equally intolerant, and equally savage and ill-tempered. Call it feminist or not, the movie really puts men in the bad seat, since they are more reluctant to thinking before acting even if their actions have deadly consequences.

When it comes to the actors, none are really famous, except for Nadine Labaky and Adel Karam (who has a small role in the movie) however, all played their roles extremely well. Unlike those Lebanese series were actors seem to be reading their scripts while the cameras are rolling, Nadine’s cast is really able to immerse the audience into the center of their everyday lives, make them feel what they feel and go through what they are going through.

Amid the current critical political and social situation in the country, the movie came as a wake up call to those who act before thinking, who play with the social balance, and who think that civil war is easy.