The next feature of the Williams Lake Film Club will be Inch’Allah, a film from Québec and France, with French/English/Arabic/Hebrew with English subtitles.
The director of Inch’Allah is Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, the main actress Evelyne Brochu. Running time is 102 minutes.
I could not find any rating, but this film is certainly geared at a more mature crowd.
We hear so much about the Israel/Palestine conflict, but it always seems to happen in a different world.
Chloé, a young Canadian obstetrician wants to help and she becomes a doctor for Red Crescent (Red Cross).
She ends up living in Jerusalem, next door to Ava, a young Israeli soldier, and working in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Ava is a military checkpoint guard who does her best to pacify the war zone’s angry crowds, and she is Chloé’s drinking buddy.
One of Chloé’s patients is a young Palestinian woman, Rand, who is pregnant and who sifts through garbage near her ghetto for baby toys.
Rand comes from a family passionately committed to Palestinian liberation.
Through Rand and her family Chloé learns about life in the occupied territories, but she is reminded from all sides that “this is not your war.”
She tries her best to build bridges between her friends, but she suffers from remaining a perpetual foreigner to both sides.
Ultimately, Chloé makes a decision with shattering consequences.
Some critics are not too kind to this film — not political enough, no fighting scenes, but I do think that this is exactly the strength of this film.
It shows you the daily life between two different people, divided by a separation border, a huge and forbidding wall.
The film’s finale presents us with the uneasy question of how much good a well-intentioned foreigner can do in the midst of endless suffering and crazy battles. Anything? You will be left to answer this question.
We invite all of you to see a selection of films you might see in cities like Vancouver or Edmonton, films that stay with you, are powerful, and make you think. Yes, some of them have subtitles, but you can read, can’t you? I challenge you.
We will have beverages and cookies after the film. This is a time to discuss the film, see old friends, make new ones, and simply be part of the Williams Lake Film Club. The film will screen Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the Cariboo Memorial Complex, Gibraltar Room.
Back doors open at 6:30 p.m. Regular admission $9, members $8, people on low income $6.