WHERE DO WE GO NOW / ET MAINTENANT ON VA OU?

Lebanon, 2011, 110 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Nadine Labaki.


This is the question raised at the end of the film as the people of a Lebanese village, part Muslim, part Catholic, attend the funeral of one of the young people who has been killed in sectarian crossfire. They have clashed themselves but, in an attempt for peace, they join for the funeral, going into the local cemetery with the clear demarcation path between Muslim and Catholic plots. The men carrying the coffin look at the dividing line, swivel around and ask, Where do we go now?

The question pervades the film. Long traditions of clash have been partly put aside as the priest and the Imam get on well and everyone joins in celebrations and shop locally (though this is a great place for arguments as is the newly set up TV, the only one in the village where people come to sit in the open air and watch – and then squabble, and then fight. Lebanese recent history has shown a grim civil war but also attempts at peace. Is peace possible? Is it even possible to ask, ‘Give peace a chance’.

So, a film that combines the serious with a lot of humour (and some moments or romantic fantasy). The film was written and directed by Nadine Labaka who also has a leading role as the proprietor of a local café. The sensibility of the film is distinctly female. While the women can argue with the best of them, they are wives and mothers, caregivers rather than warriors. How will they try to promote peace amongst the pugnacious men?

Actually, some of the solutions are a fake miracle, a statue of Mary weeping blood while the mayor’s mother pretends to have visions and messages from Mary, wanting peace. She overdoes it by making some of Mary’s criticisms rather personal! They bring in some belly dancers from a nightclub. They also have some creative culinary experiments that make peace more of a pleasantly high experience. And, there is a rather drastic interfaith solution.

Audiences will find the film quite diverting at times while they will also feel the highly emotional antagonisms as well as a longing for peace.

This review is being written at the time that government and rebels in Syria are at something of a stalemate in any give or take in resolving the uprising. Looking at this film will see something of why Lebanon’s neighbours have taken a long time to move towards peace.

1. A Lebanese film, Lebanese sensibilities, issues? The detail of life in a village? The location of the village in respect to Beirut? Outside the centre? Yet a war within the village?

2. The director and her work, perspective, peace, conflict, resolution, the role of women?

3. The life in the village, the background of the mountains, the crags, the houses and streets, the shops, cafes? The visuals of the mosque and the church, interiors and exteriors? The musical score?

4. The sense of realism, Lebanon and the clashes, the different faiths, the opening and the women, the introduction of the surreal, fantasies, the song and the women progressing, dressed in black, dancing and moving? The later romantic song? The culinary song? The fantasy overtones to the realism?

5. The strands of the plot, clear, obscure? The detail of the events, the moves by the various people – creating a puzzle?

6. The Catholic traditions, the priest, his control, sermon, asking for money? The church and the statues, the weeping Madonna? The first communion celebration? Confession? Authentic?

7. The Muslim background, the mosque, the imam? His celebrations and the prayer? The minaret? The imam and his concerns?

8. The introduction, the comic touches, the cart and the television set, the hill, difficulty in managing? Setting up the radio and antenna? The reception? The mayor and the invitation to launch the television set? The man with the goat – the death of the goat, preparing it for the meal during the launch of the television? The launch, a social event, the various programs, the sexual scene, the people calling out for censorship? The mayor, his speech? His wife and her contribution? The second screening – and the arguments, turning into a fight? Microcosm of wars, religious differences, cultural differences?

9. The shop, the goods, the women and their squabbling, the men and their purchases? The young men and their going out of the village to collect the goods?

10. People living happily together? The distinguishing factors, dress, prayer, faith, religious leaders? A focus on Amale, Rabih, his work in the cafe, the bond between the two? Christian and Muslim?

11. The tension at the first communion celebration, the crippled boy, the restraining of the boy, the angry men, the disruption of the aftermath of the ceremony, mutual suspicions? The blood in the holy water font?

12. The statue of Mary, Yvonne and her vision, her relaying the messages, the people who believed her, the blood from the Madonna’s eye? The later outburst – and Yvonne and the women’s desperation to give the men a message of peace?

13. The boys, going to get the goods, going to the nightclub, the advertisement, the women inviting the dancers to the village, the reason? Boarding them out? Difficulties of language, translation, misinterpretations? Visiting the bar? The woman who came by herself?

14. The women, as a group, part of the plot? The women of the village, their aims, feigning the miracle, calling in the dancers?

15. The death of the young man, his mother and her role in the town, her family, her older son? The grief? Having him lie in state? Pretending he had the mumps? The brother, his discovering the truth, the gun? The putting of the boy down the well?

16. The drugs, the cooking, the song, getting the men high, the possibilities for peace? The comic overtones?

17. The aftermath, the next day, the women reversing the religious garb? The bewilderment of the men? The point?

18. The funeral, a funeral culminating this war theme? The separate sides of the cemetery, the central aisle, the men carrying the coffin – not knowing which side to go – and asking the question of the title of the film?

19. As a contribution to awareness of peace? The futility of squabbles and war? An anti-war theme – and the focus on dialogue, living and working together, sharing faith?