Miral

Miral
French film poster
Directed by	Julian Schnabel
Produced by	Jon Kilik François-Xavier Decraene Sonia Raule Jérôme Seydoux
Written by	Rula Jebreal
Starring	Hiam Abbass Freida Pinto Yasmine Al Massri Ruba Jebreal Alexander Siddig Omar Metwally Stella Schnabel Willem Defoe Vanessa Redgrave
Music by	Olivier Daviaud
Cinematography	Éric Gautier
Editing by	Juliette Welfling
Studio	Pathé ER Productions Canal+ CinéCinéma Eagle Pictures India Take One Productions
Distributed by	Pathé (France 2010) The Weinstein Company (USA 2011)
Release date(s)	15 September 2010 (2010-09-15) (France) 3 December 2010 (2010-12-03) (United Kingdom) 25 March 2011 (2011-03-25) (United States)
Running time	112 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$852,336

Miral is a 2010 biographical political film directed by Julian Schnabel. The screenplay was written by Rula Jebreal, based on her novel. The film was released on 3 September at the 2010 Venice Film Festival^[1] and on 15 September 2010 in France. The film was set for release on 3 December 2010 in the United Kingdom,^{[2][dated info]} and on 25 March 2011 in the United States.^{[3][dated info]} Miral was initially rated R by the MPAA for "some violent content including a sexual assault." Later, however, it was reclassified to PG-13 for "thematic material, and some violent content including a sexual assault" after an appeal of the R rating by the Weinstein Company.^[4]

On April 4, 2011, days after the film's US release, Juliano Merr-Khamis, an actor and peace activist who plays Seikh Saabah in the film, was shot to death in his car outside a theatre he had established in a Palestinian refugee camp.^[5]

Plot

A chronicle of Hind Husseini's effort to establish an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Deir Yassin Massacre,^[6][7] and the establishment of the state of Israel.^{[citation needed]}.

Jerusalem, 1948. On her way to work, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) comes across 55 orphaned children in the street. She takes them home to give them food and shelter. Within six months, 55 had grown to almost 2,000, and the Dar Al-Tifel Institute was born.

In 1978, at the age of 7, Miral (Freida Pinto) was sent to the Institute by her father following her mother's death. Brought up safely inside the Institute's walls, she is naïve to the troubles that surround her. Then, in 1988, at the age of 17, she is assigned to teach at a refugee camp where she is awakened to the reality of the Palestinian refugees. When she falls for Hani, a militant, she finds herself torn between the First Intifada of her people and Mama Hind's belief that education is the road to peace.

Cast

• Hiam Abbass as Hind al-Husseini
• Freida Pinto as Miral
• Yasmine Al Massri as Nadia
• Ruba Blal as Fatima
• Alexander Siddig as Jamal
• Omar Metwally as Hani
• Willem Dafoe as Eddie
• Vanessa Redgrave as Bertha Spafford
• Stella Schnabel as Lisa
• Makram Khoury as Khatib
• Doraid Liddawi as Sameer
• Shredi Jabarin as Ali

Production

The Palestinian girl is author Rula Jebreal. Her novel on which the movie is based is a strongly autobiographical account of her youth in West Bank. She's torn between the injustice she sees at the hands of the Israeli army during the first Intifada and a desire for peace.^[8]

Schnabel revealed that the project had relevance for his own family history, figuring that he was a pretty good person to tell the other side of the story, given his background, as an American Jew whose mother was president, in 1948, of the Brooklyn chapter of Hadassah the Women's Zionist Organisation of America.^[9][10]

Reception

Critics

Kelly Vance wrote that "Pinto handles the central role with a certain dignity, but the real drama is in Miral’s rejection of violence in favor of Hind Husseini’s (Abbass) example of education and negotiation".^[11]

Kenneth Morefiled opined that "Miral is an ambitious film, and it may be that Schnabel's reputation has led to unrealistic expectations about what any film can (or should attempt to) accomplish. While it falls short of greatness, it has many admirable qualities".^[12]

Sheri Linden of The Los Angeles Times writes, "The lack of a compelling lead figure, combined with Schnabel's tentative approach to the material, casts the film's later stretches in the balmy glow of soap opera."^[13] Justin Chang of Variety similarly adds, "Schnabel's signature blend of splintered storytelling and sobering humanism feels misapplied to this sweeping multigenerational saga of four Arab women living under Israeli occupation, the youngest of which, Miral, emerges a bland totem of hope rather than a compelling movie subject."^[14]

Deborah Young of the Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a political film with a message of hope, on the obvious side,"^[15]

Miral was reviewed by Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent as "choppily edited" and "unevenly performed" but also "courageous" and "groundbreaking." ^[16]

See also

• Deir Yassin massacre
• Israeli Declaration of Independence
• 1948 Arab–Israeli War

References

1. ^ "Venezia 67". labiennale.org. 2010-07-29. http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/festival/lineup/off-sel/venezia67/. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 
2. ^ "Miral | UK Cinema Release Date". Filmdates.co.uk. http://www.filmdates.co.uk/films/1818-miral/. Retrieved 2010-10-20. 
3. ^ "Miral (2011)". RopeOfSilicon.com. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/movie/miral. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 
4. ^ "MPAA Gives 'Miral' A PG-13 Rating After Appeal" from Deadline.com (March 10, 2011)
5. ^ "'Miral' murder". New York Post. 5 April 2011. http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/miral_murder_X6IGObHCY6PRb8a40A53HJ. 
6. ^ "Jewish filmmaker tells Palestinian story - Israel Culture, Ynetnews". Ynetnews.com. 1995-06-20. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949069,00.html. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
7. ^ Associated, The. "Jewish film maker directs Palestinian story in 'Miral' - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News". Haaretz.com. http://www.haaretz.com/culture/jewish-film-maker-directs-palestinian-story-in-miral-1.317857. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 
8. ^ http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/980-julian-schnabel-s-controversal-movie?nc
9. ^ Deborah Sontag, Julian Schnabel Discusses His New Film, a Palestinian Story, New York Times, March 22, 2011
10. ^ Jewish director Julian Schnabel brings Palestine to Venice The Guardian. 2 September 2010
11. ^ [url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/MovieTimes?oid=2532088]East Bay Express
12. ^ url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/reviews/2011/miral.html%7CChristianity Today
13. ^ Sheri Linden (25 March 2011). "Movie review: 'Miral'". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-miral-20110325,0,7796515.story. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
14. ^ Justin Chang (2 September 2010). "Miral". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943406?refcatid=31. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
15. ^ "Miral: Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2010-10-15. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/miral-film-review-29927. Retrieved 2011-03-25. "Also, most of the hard questions are glossed over or touched on ever so lightly: terrorism, the colonies on the West Bank, the Israeli army's wholesale destruction of Palestinian property. Rather than breaking ground, the film feels like a refresher course on the region's historical basics, but this back-to-school approach, which is fairly well done, could help widen the story's appeal even if it loses more sophisticated audiences." 
16. ^ MacNab, Geoffrey (2010-09-03). "Miral, Venice Film Festival - Reviews, Films". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/miral-venice-film-festival-2069079.html. Retrieved 2011-03-25. 

External links

• Official website
• Miral at AllRovi
• Miral at Box Office Mojo
• Miral at the Internet Movie Database
• Miral at Metacritic
• Miral at Pathé
• Miral at Rotten Tomatoes
• Columnist Ray Hanania on the importance of the film