Lee Eisenberg Syria came into the news in 2011 following an uprising against Bashar Assad, making it all the more interesting that "The Syrian Bride" takes place around the time when Assad took over from his late father. The movie looks at the coming marriage of a Druze woman in the Golan Heights (a formerly Syrian region occupied by Israel since the 1967 war) to a TV star from Damascus. After the marriage, the woman will have to move to Syria and her village will never allow her to return. But Israeli and Syrian bureaucracy looks certain to complicate things.Criticism of the movie that I read is that it doesn't focus on the role that the Israel-Palestine conflict would likely play in the issue of the Golan Heights, and that it depicts the Israeli and Druze characters sympathetically while portraying the Syrian characters as buffoons. That IS a problem with the movie. But aside from that, director Eran Riklis takes a good look at the Kafkaesque bureaucracy plaguing the people in the Golan Heights. Life in this no-man's land comes across as a tough existence. It's also one of the few movies in which we see a strong Arab woman. Worth seeing, as long as you understand that it does pretty much gloss over any role that the Israel-Palestine conflict would have to play.

lmahayni As an Arab-American who spent her childhood in the shadow of the Isreali occupied Golan Heights, I found many memories from my childhood coming back. How ridiculous the most simple task can become when politics enters the picture! Anyone who wants personal insight into the Isreali-Arab conflict, should watch this. It's about as realistic as it can get. This seemingly simple tale is fraught with all the obvious and subtle problems of a family and a community living under the restrictions of international politics. Whenever it starts to seem trite, it will surprise you with some detail or twist that reveals a depth that is never allowed to show on the surface. The plot is simple: a bride gets ready for her wedding... Not so simple, apparently.Is the policeman a heartless occupying force? Is the father an iceberg? Is a border officer capable of setting policy for his entire Nation? Can the hopes of one woman survive this emotional day? You'll explore these questions while you become attached to the characters engaged in this drama. The acting is seamless, the scripting spare, and the production value is appropriate to the story being told.The bottom line is that you should see this movie. If you watch it on DVD, be sure to watch the extras. The film was shot in Arabic and Hebrew (with a smattering of French and English), with English subtitles. Sometimes the subtitles flash by too quickly; but that's my only "major" complaint.

jalal_mussalha "The Syrian Bride" is one of the most amazing Arabic movies i have ever seen in my life. I would even give it a higher grade than "10" if I could. The plot is very real and serious, it sheds the light on a spectrum of elements and factors that constitute altogether the Druze individual who lives in Occupied Jollan Hieghts. Those people who suffer from the bitterness of BELOGING issue, are on display in this movie. On the one hand they are SYRIAN, but they feel isolated and secluded from their homeland on the other, and that's due to the fact that Israel has occupied their land , and Syria cannot get it back. In the movie there are some scenes of demonstrations organized by the local people of Majdal Shams implying their insisting need to re-belong to their homeland. However, they will never accomplish their need neither fulfill their dream as long as their green hills are occupied. The movie incarnates the the dilemma of belonging and the suffocating state of being under occupation.

survivin I love foreign films as a expert in films and relationships i recommend you see the move. I need to keep my mouth shut about the plot but this movie contained romance and made me cry and its a great movie to take your lover to-you will surely have a great time with great love afterwards i think you should see this but do not sit behind any crabby old women who keep looking at me when i coughed.I liked that this movie was made in Israel and Syria and brought together everyone in the middle east to see how stupid people who eat pita and hummus can be too each other. love you from Arizona.Alan from surviving breakup . com