Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Sabah (2005)
Director: Ruba Nadda
*Warning the following analysis contains a discussion of the entire film – including the ending.
An age-old story told with a new cultural twist and in a very entertaining way, but with a too-sugary Hollywood ending. As recently discussed in Peach Girl, this must be one of the 7 plots that exits in that limited plot theory– the story of 2 lovers fighting to be together across cultural barriers. The only thing that makes this film at all new are the cultures – a Muslim woman and a divorced white Canadian guy – which really does not make it new at all. It is no different really from the Irish/Puerto Rican barrier in West Side Story, the Montague and Capulet divide of Romeo and Juliet or, for that matter, the Uptown Girl and Downtown Boy divide of the Billy Joel song. (Please insert any of the 1000s of other examples here.)
Despite the extremely well trodden path the director does manage a few surprises. Well not quite surprises, since this is a Hollywood version of this story (even though it is Canadian) you know from the moment Sabah and Stephen meet they will be together in the end. The surprises are in the details of Muslim culture that you probably do not know unless you are Muslim or have close friends who are. For example, the stark divide between a woman’s ultra-conservative appearance, which they must wear in public, and the ultra sexy persona they take on in the home. There are glimpses of the Muslim gender and family hierarchy. There is a little exposition on how (or if) a Muslim lifestyle can adapt (but not disappear) within a liberal western culture, and a yummy look at some good middle-eastern food. And speaking of yummy looks: best of all is the peak we get of belly dancing which is incredible and sexy through-out the film. (How authentic any of these insights are I cannot say.)
On a personal level the film begins to explore (but does not go deep enough into) the personal awakening of Sabah as an independent and sexual woman. She has lived for 40 years as a ‘good Muslim woman’, playing roles of child, sister and mother to various family members, roles others have defined for her. The best moments of Sabah show Sabah slowly emerging as an independent and ultimately courageous woman as she moves from secretive adolescent games in her relationship with Stephen to her final courageous stand where she is ready to leave behind her family (in particular the shackles of her brother’s judgments) to pursue her independent self.
There are two significant events in the last 15 minutes – one a very good twist and one a horrible Hollywood climax. The skilled scene involves the humanizing of Sabah’s brother. Throughout the film he is a macho, chauvinistic tyrant who will not let the women in his family have any freedoms. He has become the figurehead of the family since his dad’s death and he acts like a tyrannical king and treats all the woman like children, controlling everything from their bank accounts to their personal lives. We see him as an asshole. However in the films climax we realize that when their father died there was not nearly enough money to support the family. He assumed the role of protector and provider and has been working himself to death (without telling anyone) believing as oldest male the financial burden of his sisters and mother has fell upon him. It is implied that he has become a traditionalist (and an asshole) because of the immense stress he has been under secretly supporting them all. And though it does not excuse his actions at least he is understood to be more than an ogre.
The sickening scene comes in the dénouement. Sabah exposes her secret relationship to the white Canadian, and is briefly expelled from the family by the mean brother. In the riveting scene where we learn about the brother’s sacrifice for the family’s finances, long held secrets are laid on the table and the film's final resolution is insight. Then we cut to a year later. We are suddenly in the last minutes of a bad sitcom rather than a feature film. Everything has been neatly and happily tied up, the whole family (including the now married Sabah and Stephen) is all lovey-dovey and the white guy is trying in a bungling white guy way to be a good Muslim, or something. It is all perfectly wrapped-up - smiles and happy endings all around. To put it plainly: there is enough saccharine in this final scene to kill a lab rat.
(Though it doesn’t quite kill the movie – it simply makes it a cream-puff Hollywood romantic-comedy when it could have been something more daring.)
Should you see it? If you can stand the ultimate shallowness of a sitcom happy-ending with a few pregnant cultural issues laying unexplored on the surface, this is the film for you.
*Warning the following analysis contains a discussion of the entire film – including the ending.
An age-old story told with a new cultural twist and in a very entertaining way, but with a too-sugary Hollywood ending. As recently discussed in Peach Girl, this must be one of the 7 plots that exits in that limited plot theory– the story of 2 lovers fighting to be together across cultural barriers. The only thing that makes this film at all new are the cultures – a Muslim woman and a divorced white Canadian guy – which really does not make it new at all. It is no different really from the Irish/Puerto Rican barrier in West Side Story, the Montague and Capulet divide of Romeo and Juliet or, for that matter, the Uptown Girl and Downtown Boy divide of the Billy Joel song. (Please insert any of the 1000s of other examples here.)
Despite the extremely well trodden path the director does manage a few surprises. Well not quite surprises, since this is a Hollywood version of this story (even though it is Canadian) you know from the moment Sabah and Stephen meet they will be together in the end. The surprises are in the details of Muslim culture that you probably do not know unless you are Muslim or have close friends who are. For example, the stark divide between a woman’s ultra-conservative appearance, which they must wear in public, and the ultra sexy persona they take on in the home. There are glimpses of the Muslim gender and family hierarchy. There is a little exposition on how (or if) a Muslim lifestyle can adapt (but not disappear) within a liberal western culture, and a yummy look at some good middle-eastern food. And speaking of yummy looks: best of all is the peak we get of belly dancing which is incredible and sexy through-out the film. (How authentic any of these insights are I cannot say.)
On a personal level the film begins to explore (but does not go deep enough into) the personal awakening of Sabah as an independent and sexual woman. She has lived for 40 years as a ‘good Muslim woman’, playing roles of child, sister and mother to various family members, roles others have defined for her. The best moments of Sabah show Sabah slowly emerging as an independent and ultimately courageous woman as she moves from secretive adolescent games in her relationship with Stephen to her final courageous stand where she is ready to leave behind her family (in particular the shackles of her brother’s judgments) to pursue her independent self.
There are two significant events in the last 15 minutes – one a very good twist and one a horrible Hollywood climax. The skilled scene involves the humanizing of Sabah’s brother. Throughout the film he is a macho, chauvinistic tyrant who will not let the women in his family have any freedoms. He has become the figurehead of the family since his dad’s death and he acts like a tyrannical king and treats all the woman like children, controlling everything from their bank accounts to their personal lives. We see him as an asshole. However in the films climax we realize that when their father died there was not nearly enough money to support the family. He assumed the role of protector and provider and has been working himself to death (without telling anyone) believing as oldest male the financial burden of his sisters and mother has fell upon him. It is implied that he has become a traditionalist (and an asshole) because of the immense stress he has been under secretly supporting them all. And though it does not excuse his actions at least he is understood to be more than an ogre.
The sickening scene comes in the dénouement. Sabah exposes her secret relationship to the white Canadian, and is briefly expelled from the family by the mean brother. In the riveting scene where we learn about the brother’s sacrifice for the family’s finances, long held secrets are laid on the table and the film's final resolution is insight. Then we cut to a year later. We are suddenly in the last minutes of a bad sitcom rather than a feature film. Everything has been neatly and happily tied up, the whole family (including the now married Sabah and Stephen) is all lovey-dovey and the white guy is trying in a bungling white guy way to be a good Muslim, or something. It is all perfectly wrapped-up - smiles and happy endings all around. To put it plainly: there is enough saccharine in this final scene to kill a lab rat.
(Though it doesn’t quite kill the movie – it simply makes it a cream-puff Hollywood romantic-comedy when it could have been something more daring.)
Should you see it? If you can stand the ultimate shallowness of a sitcom happy-ending with a few pregnant cultural issues laying unexplored on the surface, this is the film for you.
