Rana's Wedding (2002)

Shooting on location in East Jerusalem, Ramallah and at checkpoints in-between, Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad (FORD TRANSIT) sees the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the eyes of a young woman who, with only ten hours to marry, must negotiate her way around roadblocks, soldiers, stone-throwers, overworked officials ... and into the heart of an elusive lover.

This timely feature that explores love among the ruins of an occupied territory was presented with the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival's 2003 Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking.

According to Abu-Assad, "When the abnormalities of barriers and occupation become an everyday reality, normal things like love and marriage turn into fiction. This is life in Palestine right now. I wanted to challenge it through cinema."

Winner of the Best Actress award at the 2002 Marrakesh International Film Festival (for Clara Khoury's affecting performance), RANA'S WEDDING premiered during the 2002 International Critic's Week at Cannes and has been a festival favorite in Palm Springs, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo and London.

DVD Special Features: Original Theatrical Trailer Hany Abu-Assad Biography Clara Khoury Biography

Silly story, poorly written script, mediocre acting. Forget about it!

Rana is a 17-year-old Palistinian girl who dresses in slacks and a sweater. Her father tells her she must either quickly choose a husband from a list, or travel to Egypt with him where he will send her to school.
She only has 10 hours to do this. Right way this plot seems silly.

Anyway, the father doesn't know that she already has a boyfriend, a theatrical director, who is stuck in the outskirts of the city because of a recent bombing. There are a lot of scenes of the girl trying to find him and panicking as the hours tick away. Finally she finds him where he is sleeping on a stage. She wakes him up and asks him to get married that very day. At first he hesitates but then he gives in. This whole part is very strange because the audience has no idea of what their relationship is like, how they met, or whether they even like each other.

The rest of the film consists of all the hurdles they have to go through in order to get married that day. Not only do they have to find a magistrate, they also have to convince the father to accept the groom. I wish I could have felt something for the couple but they don't even seem affectionate.

The biggest hurdle of all, however, is the many roadblocks that they have to deal with. Israeli soldiers are everywhere and there are constant inconveniences because of this. Finally, the wedding takes place right out on the street because of all the traffic jams.

I know this film was supposed to make a statement about Israeli occupation. However, it was simply a poorly made film. I was bored throughout as many scenes just had the girl walking down the street. There were also extra scenes that didn't relate to the plot. I also never did get a good feel of the Palestinian culture or their wedding rituals. The story was silly. The script poorly written. And the acting bad.

O.K. I did get a small view of the terrain. But so what? December 24, 2006

Overcoming All Odds to Marry the Man She Loves ...

Without taking a political stand for either the Israeli or Palestinian side, the Director shows how one very determined young lady named Rana overcame enormous obstacles in order to be married to the young man *she* chose and loved rather than one her father selected and would have preferred for her. The reality of living under "occupation" becomes very clear from the beginning of the film. There are cameras located throughout Western Jerusalem and the Palestinian town of Ramallah to catch insurgency on film and ensure a quick response. Israeli soldiers are shown at checkpoints which often create traffic jams, making it difficult for residents to conduct their lives in a normal manner. Soldiers with weapons walk in groups within the city ... on guard ready for any eventuality.

Rana is a Palestinian young lady of the Islamic faith who has fallen in love with Khalil a theater director. Her father recognizes she desires to marry and provided her a list of eligible bachelors from good families who made inquiries about her marriage prospects ... Her father decided to take her to Egypt on a business trip by 4:00PM that day if she does not select one of the eligible bachelors from the list. Rana is determined to meet with Khalil and be married before 4PM so she does not have to travel to Egypt under her watchful father's eye ... The only problem is ... she is having difficulty locating him. She learns he was going to visit Western Jerusalem but due to Israeli road blocks he did could not make it to the city. The clock is ticking away fast and she must locate him. A female cousin, aware of her marriage plans, had found her a wedding dress and matching shoes. Rana goes against all odds to find Khalil to expedite her marriage plans (of which he is blissfully unaware). She travels via local bus transportation to get to Ramallah to seek him out. She dodges a fight between Palestinian children and Israeli soldiers. The childen are throwing rocks and manage to ignite a fire near the soldiers who shoot live bullets at the rock throwers. She made it to the theater in Ramallah where Khalil had slept overnight due to the political frays happening nearby. Rana explains her plight, the need to marry or she will be taken to Egypt by her father. Khalil agrees to the marriage but prefers they marry with her father's blessing. They can marry without but in either case, they must have the official paperwork from the local magistrate. To obtain the papers, they travel over meandering dirt roads to avoid fighting which had escalated. They reach the magistrate's office only to discover a long line of people - all of whom need offial approval for important matters, one young man seeks a permit to bury his brother before sundown on that day.

The conclusion of the film is highly climactic, after Rana gets her hair done and is dressed in her wedding attire while her relatives await celebration, the magistrate has still not yet arrived. Her father is anxious and wants to drive to the airport but the couple persuade him instead to go to the magistrate's office where the marriage ceremony can be performed. While they do not make it to the office, amazingly they do meet up with the magistrate, at an Israeli checkpoint. The viewer will be satisified to learn, this couple manages to get married. It will be a surprise ending to discover where the marriage ceremony occurs and where the marriage celebration and dance takes place. Overall, this is a very unique film which provides great insights into the many obstacles people must overcome to live their daily lives in this part of the world. Erika Borsos [pepper flower] November 7, 2006

Back road travelogue . . .

For a young Palestinian woman in Jerusalem, getting married requires taking some back roads and back streets, given the checkpoints that block passage of traffic almost everywhere. Viewers of this film get the experience of life lived under a state of occupation and political tensions. Adding to the drama is the deadline imposed by the young woman's father, who is leaving for Egypt at 4pm and has given her the choice of going with him or marrying a man of his choosing. The third option - her own - is marriage to a man she really loves, and she has 12 hours to find him and get the agreement of her reluctant father.

As we follow her, we see Jerusalem as it is for those who live there, trying to just get done the things that daily life requires. The film's attitude toward the government and the military who prevent that from happening easily is evident at almost every turn, ranging from the bride-to-be's annoyance to pangs of fear as she watches a house being destroyed and a family displaced by security forces. At another time, she comes upon a funeral cortege. But the film is determined to end happily, no matter what, and viewers are left with a picture of a world that is often missed by the cameras of the news networks. October 2, 2006

Living under the occupation - a slice of Palestinian life

This film explores the complexities of Palestinian life under the Israeli occupation. We follow the perambulations of Rana, a young Palestinian woman, through Jerusalem and the West Bank as she tries to make all the necessary administrative, legal, and familial arrangements required to get married by the end of the day. This film really represents a slice of daily Palestinian life. I believe that the primary goal of Hany Abu-Assad was to make a film to present the thousands of annoyances, restrictions, and invasions that the Israeli occupation makes on Palestinian life. If this was the case, he has succeeded marvelously. The presence of the Israeli soldiers and army of occupation is offensive. He has also captured an image of Palestinian society in transition that is somewhere between Islamic traditions and Western liberalism. For example, Rana is given a list of potential grooms by her father, an older tradition of arranged marriage. At the same time, Rana does not wear a headscarfe, and her and her boyfriend/husband drive around in a VW bug listening to pop music, just like their contemporaries throughout the Western world. I think a secondary goal of Hany Abu-Assad was to portray the Palestinians as not too different than their Western counterparts (i.e. not all Palestinians are fanatic Islamacists). There is also some marvelous cinematography in this film, with some great shots of some of the holiest places in Jerusalem. The contentious issue of how the Palestinians should respond to the Israeli occupation (and more particularly the issue of suicide bombers) is avoided in this film. The theme/tone is more along the lines of 'life goes on' rather than 'we must fight'. This story itself is charming, a woman gets the man tale, but not particularly outstanding. This film provides a balancing view of what the Israeli occupation, and US support of the Israeli occupation, is doing to the indigenous peoples of Palestine. Highly recommended. August 9, 2006

A human tale set within the context of an inhuman Occupation

'Rana's Wedding' is a wonderful film. It not only tells the story of a young Palestinian girl who is determined to be united with her beloved but gives a compelling and realistic view of the Zionist Occupation. The wedding occurs finally at a Chequepoint, and a powerful poem by Mahmoud Darwish concludes the film. 'Rana's Wedding' actually does not preach politics at all. It simply shows the reality of Palestine under Occupation. Apart from that, however, the manner in which the eternal beauty of Jerusalem is captured in this film is an extraordinary achievement, and rivals any photograph or film I ever saw about Al Quds. July 10, 2006

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