Lebanese actress and director Nadine Labaki?s new movie,Where Do We Go Now??opens on a wide open plain, a group of women dressed in black singing and dancing in unison, as if they were taking part in a staged funeral procession. It is an image that encapsulates the mood of film, which is caught-up in the anxieties of conflict and the feminine consern for the preservation of generations.
Despite the decidedly dour scene,?Where Do We Go Now??is an off-beat, quirky comedy. Taking place in a remote Lebanese village, tensions rise between the once-peaceful Christian and Muslim populations as a series of mishaps and misunderstandings introduce religious tension to a town that has miraculously avoided the decades of violence that has ravaged the rest of Lebenon. Labaki waves a finger at television. The young men of the village set up a community TV, and both the news broadcasts and mishaps during their efforts to secure a good signal fuel the growing conflict. To resolve the situation, the women ? both Christian and Muslim ? cycle through a series of?Lysistrata-inspired?remedies, including paying a local pimp to bring by his Ukrainian dancers. A sudden death of a young villager, however, poses a seemingly insurmountable obstacle to peace.
Something about?Where Do We Go Now??s off-kilter humor didn?t quite register with this viewer, which made the film feel a bit tedious at times. But I?m obviously a minority. The movie took home the People?s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, as well as Un Certain Regard honors at Cannes 2011. There is much to enjoy about the movie, which lends a welcomed?tongue-in-the-cheek to the high-tragic themes of the Middle East, advocating for a bit of bawd and booze in the wake of high-minded ? and high-stakes ? righteousness.
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