Miral (2011)

Really Surprised!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Ignore some of the terrible reviews this movie has gotten. Watch it and reach your own conclusions.The "story" presented here presents personal stories of people affected by the creation of Israel in former Palestine, a British colony. This movie is not meant to be history, though facts of history are presented, but based on how the situation has affected people in different parts of society of Palestinians and Israelis.Although the movie is from a Palestinian perspective, I didn't feel that it was anti-Israeli, but did show how the partisan situation has affected many negatively, but mostly the Palestinians.I would urge everyone to see this movie with an eye to what happens with both colonialism and war. That some manage to survive does not mean thousands more didn't suffer greatly.This movie has some flaws, and I'll mention some here so you will not think I could not see them. While much of the cinematography is excellent there are times that I had to turn away because the cinematographer must have used a hand-held camera zoomed in so the picture is blurry. Then he moves the camera from side to side or makes a sweep and it almost gave me motion sickness and distracted from the movie. I have no idea why this was allowed, but if this bothers you, just move on because it doesn't last. Sometimes the story line seems truncated. First Miral's mother is a belly dancer then she is married to a moderate, kind, Muslim leader, not an oppositionist. Did I miss something? I think some of the narrative transitions fell on the cutting room floor.Despite any flaws I really urge you to see the movie. It has very beautiful music, excellent acting and is thought-provoking about the situation with the Palestinians and Israelis. Its partisanship is not strident so you don't feel that it is meant to be any type of manifesto. It does leave us wondering why the Oslo agreements of 1993 were never finally agreed upon, though there are understandable reasons. This question is NOT the point of the movie, however.

Miral – CATCH IT (B-) The story begins in war-torn Jerusalem in 1948 when Hind Husseini (HIAM ABBASS) opens an orphanage for refugee children that quickly becomes home to 2000 orphans. One of the children is seventeen year old Miral (FRIEDA PINTO, Slumdog Millionaire) who arrived at the orphanage 10 years earlier, following her mother's tragic death. On the cusp of the Intifada resistance, Miral is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she falls for a fervent political activist, Hani (OMAR METWALLY, Munich, Rendition) and finds herself in a personal battle that mirrors the greater dilemma around her: to fight like those before her or follow Mama Hind's defiant belief that education will pave a road to peace. (RT) First of all it's nice to see finally movies about Palestinian' prospective after Paradise NOW on international level. The Jews may have suffered during World War II but how can justify themselves by doing the same thing in Palestine and as they did in Bosnia. It's defiantly a nice attempt but the movie is not as effective as suppose to be. The movie could never determine which woman story they want to tell. It focuses on one woman and we forget about the other one and her thoughts. Frieda Pinto has done a good job as always, she is really impressive and getting better with each new release. Hiam Abbasss has done a decent job. Cameos by Vanessa Redgrave and William Defoe are nice. Anyways, it's a nice movie about Israelis terrorism on the Palestinian. It's about time world should accept that the situation for Muslims is as worst as as it was for Jews during World War II.

Director Julian Schnabel tackles yet another biographical tale after his Diving Bell and the Butterfly, with a focus shifted to the Middle East conflict, but unlike the typical Hollywood production ranging from all out action like The Kingdom to heavier dramatic fare like Syriana, this film, an Indian-Italian-French-Israeli co-production stops short at passing judgement, opting to tread the middle ground in portraying as objective a viewpoint as possible, and does so through the eyes of the titular character Miral (Freida Pinto) being caught up in the scheme of her environment.Curiously, this film is based on the novel by Rula Jebreal, a Palestinian journalist, whose book is an almost biographical account of her growing up and formative years, where she got brought up in an orphanage in Jerusalem established by Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass), whose notable exploits after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War include rescuing orphaned survivors from the Deir Yassin massacre and turning her home into an orphanage. So in essence we get to observe the story of two women caught up in extraordinary circumstances spanning a vast timeline right up to the establishment of the state of Israel and right through to various peace accords that are still trying to bear fruit, and one The narrative is split into two halves, with the first centered on the tale of Hind Husseini, her sacrifice and achieving of her objective, before having the narrative shift toward that of Miral, clearly the poster girl since Freida Pinto's shot to fame in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire might mean a lot more people giving this film a chance. Brought to Husseini's orphanage to be raised, we see the teenager getting awakened to the state of affairs of the land claimed by opposing sides, and getting caught between a rock and a hard place, where Husseini's counsel gets weighed against that of the brush of romance with the militant Hani (Omar Metwally), but of course don't come to expect flitting romantic scenes as the more powerful and thought provoking ones far outweigh affairs of the heart.While the film offered two stories of two independently strong women, somehow it is the lack of a primary central figure that did it in, where it's most unfortunate to have the story quite scattered in its ambitious timeline in trying to condense an extremely complex political situation, no doubt adopting a micro view through the two different perspectives and principles in its leading characters. It sought to contrast viewpoints of those who deem education is the key out of their current plight, against those who wish to stand up and be counted, violence notwithstanding as a means to achieve an end.Perhaps I was anticipating more, but with an ending quite abrupt, it leaves more questions than those answered and addressed, and perhaps so because it's still an open environment with no clear solutions in sight. Like how the characters have seen milestones set in their lifetime, I wonder if we in ours can eventually see something significantly charted out. The end title was a chilling reminder that it will take quite a while.

With a few caveats "Miral" is a rather good movie. It shows things from the Palestinian perspective and does leave out an important point or two ... but again in general it's pretty good cinematic experience.The development of a young lady named Miral is the main subject here. The film is based on an autobiographical novel by Rula Jebreal. Miral is Palestinian and she attends a school that some might consider a privileged place for a Palestinian. She is very lucky to get the type of education offered at the school. The school is a boarding school and is also an orphanage. It is run by a wonderful lady.The author, Rula Jebreal, is a journalist. She attended university in Italy and was a journalist there for over decade. After that she worked for a Cairo TV station.There is quite a bit of "setup" in the film before the main character Miral appears. You just have to wade through it because it's quite necessary to build the foundation before this particular house can be built.Even though there are multiple issues of importance to women raised by the film I suspect that creative men will be interested in most all of the film. I'm a guy and I liked it.The main issue in the film is how Miral's attitude towards and approach to the Israeli/Palestinian struggle will develop. It's a complex subject and the film likewise is complex. Overall the film acquits itself quite well is this area.OK. Let's get to the controversial stuff. The movie portrays the situation from the Palestinian perspective. Once or twice it leaves out an important point and that omission gives an "advantage" of the Palestinian side of the "argument." However in another case it really should provide a tiny bit more historical info to make the portrayal of the circumstances surrounding the founding of the school/orphanage more credible. Let's tackle that bit first.The school/orphanage is founded because a wonderful lady finds a group of orphans in the street who say their parents were all killed without reason. The scene just didn't seem believable to me ... until I looked up the Deir Yassin massacre. It really happened and those kids are (part of) the subject matter of this film. Again, it was called the Deir Yassin massacre. Look that one up (try haaretz.com). The film should have mentioned that incident by name in a later scene for increased credibility.OK. Now the flip side of the coin. The school/orphanage grows greatly because of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War that started the day after Israel declared its independence and sovereignty. Nowhere is it mentioned in the film that in that war the Arab nations were the first to move across national boundaries ("they started it"). More balance is needed on this point.Another point omitted in the film occurs in an important scene where the Israeli army is tearing down a Palestinian house. I could be wrong about this, but they typically do this when someone has committed a really bad terrorist act. That persons house (or their parents house) is then destroyed. When the house is torn down in the movie no context/reason is given whatsoever. For a film that is trying to balance things this a noticeable omission.One high circulation newspaper said that the film was a "slanderous and shameful piece of propaganda." That's just totally wrong. To me it is sensitive and complex. Another newspaper review said the movie had a "disdain for details." On the contrary, it gets the details right with the caveats noted above. The Guardian said "Freida Pinto looks uneasy and miscast as Miral herself." Ms. Pinto's acting is quite good. The only problem there is that her skin tone is a 1/2 shade to dark. I REALLY doubt that most folks with white skin will notice that "problem." The Village Voice said it was "at-odds-with-itself" and was a "partisan work." The only sense that the film is "at-odds-with-itself" is that the title character's response to the Israeli/Palestinian struggle changes over time. The work is told from the Palestinian point of view ... that makes it partisan? Give me a break! What crap! On the other hand the use of plaintive violin music is a bit overdone in the film.Let's get real here. It distinctly appears that the reason that people might typically review this film poorly is that they don't like that a story is being told from the Palestinian point of view.I understand that this is an incredibly tough problem, but to quote Rodney King "Can't we all get along?" Unfortunately the situation seems quite insoluble.