I saw it in Paris last week. (And no I did not go to Paris just to see the movie. ) English original with French subtitles in a small cinema together with three old ladies and grumpy looking old man.

The movie is not "too partial", "boring" and I did not have the desire to leave the cinema after 30 minutes.

I believe there are two problems with "Miral". The first is that from the beginning almost everyone (the media etc.) thought that Freida Pinto was the wrong person to play Miral. People were prejudiced. I think she was okay. I don't know about her accent. For my German ears it didn't matter if her accent sounded more "Indian" than "Palestinian" (if it did at all).

The second problem is that everyone thought the movie was going to be great because of Julian Schnabel and the plot etc. People had very, very high expectations. Well, I'm not sure if it is an Oscar candidate but it has some really good parts and some really good actors in it.

Just one general thing: Most of the film is in english. English with various accents. I never understood why people should talk in a foreign language when talking amongst themselves. (It was the same in KOH.) They should either talk in their mother tongue with subtitles or talk english without accents (to imply they really are talking in their mother tongue but for the audience it's english).

I'm going to put some spoiler tags around the next bit, just in case.

It's the story of four women and the history of Israel. It starts with the very end of the story and then there is a flashback to the beginning and Hind Husseini and the foundation of the orphanage. Then the story "jumps" (and it "jumps" quite often which sometimes, I felt, disturbes the "flow" of the story). We are now (20 years later) with Nadia, Mirals mother who is abused by the people she lives with. (I couldn't figure out who exactly they were. They seemed to young to be her parents.) She flees, gets herself in prison and meets Fatima (women no. 3), a former nurse who became a sort of terrorist because of the things that happened to her during the 6-days-war.
Out of the prison we see Nadia marry Jamal (Sid). Sid has actually quite much screentime. I think his character is too good to be true. Are there such men out there somewhere? (No criticism, just an observation. ) But I like his portrayal of the loving, caring father and husband.

Several years later Miral is born and already at school age. Nadia is still troubled by her past and eventually commits suicide. Jamal is bringing Miral to Hind for better education.

And now it's Mirals story, now played by Pinto. Btw, I think the child actress playing child-Miral was really good. We now learn about the PLO and how Miral became involved.
The movie ends 1993 with the Oslo-Contracts.

It starts really well and then there is a part in the middle where it is kind of "stuck" (for want of a better word). I can't even tell you why. Maybe that's just a feeling I had. Maybe it's because we get told the stories of the first three women in quite a short time and then we stay with Miral for the rest of the movie. You know, I feel there is a kind of break in the middle of it. It gets really good towards the end including some beautiful shots of the raw countryside.
The camera movements evryone is talking of.... Well sometimes it made me dizzy. Those fast spinning, blurry movements are perfect for some scenes but for others it just felt totally out of place.
In general there is a big "Did you get the message? hanging over the film. I mean, "peace" and "we can all get along" are not bad messages at all but it's coming at you with a bulldozer. It looks like the film wants to be more than it is while a quieter tune would have been much more effective in my opinion.

Concerning the Palestinian-Jew thing: it's not as unbalanced as I thought it would be and as a lot of the press reviews imply. It can't be totally unbiased because it's from the certain point of view of an Palestinian orphanage - so it's okay.
We do see bad, bad Israeli soldiers but we also witness terrorist attacks by the other side. We see the developement of fanatism on both sides which is interesting. True, Fatimas story is kind of difficult. She placed a bomb in a cinema that was supposed to be killing lots of young Israelis. Later we hear: "The bomb didn't go off but I still got twice a life-long term in prison. A third for misbehaving in front of the court." I'm not sure if the film wants us to feel sorry for Fatima and angry with the Israeli judicial system. Yes, she experienced horrible things, still she wanted to kill lots of innnocent people. On the other side we have one of Mirals friends who seems unable to make the tiniest of compromises for the sake of piece.

To explain certain historical events Schnabel uses archive footage. He doesn't tell everything so I think it could be useful to do some backround reading of Israels history if you are not familiar with it.

Overall I liked it.

I haven't read the book, yet. Maybe it will explain more.

You can pre-order it here:
Amazon.co.uk Released on november 11.

Amazon.com Released on november 30.

Amazon.de Released on november 15.

The French version has already been released: Amazon.fr

Thank you for the review Ulli. Hope that you are enjoyed your trip.

I read that thanks to the movie "The King's Speech" picking up the early festival awards that the little money available to promote any movie during the heavyweight award season has been allocated towards that so other notables such as Miral has to take a back seat for now.

I also genuinely do not know how the movie will play in the UK or the US and as you believe it to have flaws this might count against it.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for a more positive outcome though.

Best Wishes.

Jude.

Thank you for the review, Ulli. Glad to hear Sid has a lot of screen time during his part of the story. I was hoping this would be an Oscar contender, but once again timing works against us.

Thank you for the Review I will order the book, I am very interested in the subject of this movie and I truely hope that it is well received. I am glad Sid has lots of screen time he deserves it.

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you got to see it. I've accepted the fact that I will have to wait until it comes out on DVD. I have come up with a great method of getting the ones I don't have. I have a big jar and I put my change in it. Whenever I buy something, I round up a dollar and the change goes in the jar. Got Feisel that way and I'm halfway to Espion(s)

And are you saying Sid's not worth going to Paris for? LOL.

Hi Ulli,
how lucky you managed to see the movie! Thanks for the review.
I'll keep an eye open for the cinemas around here, but frankly: I am sure you'll be the first to discover it in Germany as well.

Thank you for the review, Ulli.

This writer HERE pretty much agees with you and reveals a few more details about the film.

I'm really curious about that scene in the trailer where Miral is taken away and Sid (her father) is so upset, screaming that they can't take her, she's just a schoolgirl. What does he do after that? Something reckless that gets him in trouble? Surely he must take some action to try to get her back? There's a still photo from the movie that shows Miral leaning against the lady who runs the orphanage and they both look very sad, like maybe they're grieving. Is it because something happens to Jamal (Sid)? Or am I just reading it all the wrong way? Can you give us a teensy little hint, please, Ulli?

I wonder if the version of "Miral" you saw was the pre-edited version? In this item HERE it says that Julian Schnabel was going to do some major re-editing of the movie after the Venice festival. Maybe he can do something to fix the problems you mentioned. The new US release date, according to IMDb, is March 25, 2011, so that will give him a lot of time to tinker with it.

Peridot

After they take Miral they torture her and after that there is a trial. But she gets off because there is no further evidence against her. Jamal is present at the trial.
I'm not sure about the movie still you are talking about. Well, Jamal does die. He has an illness that can't be cured. That's when we learn that Jamal is not Mirals biological father. (Actually you can pretty much guess that from a scene right after the marriage of Jamal and Nadia.) But that doesn't matter to Jamal. For him Miral is his daughter. Those are pretty much his last words.

I don't know which version I saw. It was running in French cinemas since september 15. So there wouldn't have been much time for Schnabel to edit something if he made that decision after Venice.

Btw: apparently the movie ran at some other German film festival at the beginning of october. The reviews I found are pretty good in general.

Miral is shown in Frankfurt/Main and Mainz in Germany!

Finally - I managed to see it yesterday.
Had tried last Saturday, drove 20 km to the next bigger town, found a very convenient parking space and was happy to be on time - but I had the wrong schedule and was 3 3/4 hours too early! Very cold night, so I returned home for a quiet evening.
Now yesterday was nearly the last show, after three weeks the art-movie-theater will only give one more show tomorrow.

Overall, I liked the movie.
Very impressed by Hind Huseini and the school and orphanage she build up.
Not so sure about the way the story is told, jumping forward, jumping to different perspectives of different women. But this has it advantages, too, broadens the picture.
I did not like the photography, sometimes too shaky, too much moving around, where I could see no element of story telling in it. There are moments in the movie where the picture is not focused, that is to show Nadias (Mirals mother) dim and drunken view of the world, understood, but on other occasions ... only confusing

Jamal is a very nice part for Sid. Agreeable character, loving father, very real. E.g. I liked the scene when the father and the little daughter go shopping in the basar, the daughter being taught and encouraged to choose the vegetables.
As for Freida Pinto - she was ok, but I think it is sad they could not cast an Arab actress for the part of Miral. Pinto looks way too much Indian to me - can't tell about the accent, as my movie was in German. I know it is stupid, but in a movie based on a real story, I'd prefer to see a "normal" looking girl more than such a beauty. What so ever, her look distracted me from her acting.

The Anti-Israeli tone of the movie - well, it shows the perspective of Palestinian women and that seemed very believable for me.
From all I learned about that conflict, in Israel the Jewish and Palestinians live very much apart, not knowing each other privately and therefore it is so easy to dwell on negative perceptions and hatred and fear. In all those long years, both sides have given plenty of prove of evil deeds to dwell on.
The only persons we meet in the movie who try to cross this boarder are Mirals cousin in Haifa and his jewish girlfriend - and on both sides, the parents do not like it. It seems that this is the first time Miral really talks to a Jew.

There were some points in the movie where I'd like to have a bit more background information, for a younger and/or historically not so well informed audience. E.g: the 6-day-war. In a subtitle we just learn that after that war, Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem etc. and that the situation for the Palestinians is worse than before. But we get no information on the background of that war - which would be very difficult to write down in two sentences, indeed. But the way it is, we get the impression that Israel as the winner was starting the war, and we hear nothing of the Arab States who announced to eliminate Israel and the massive Egyptian troup movements in the days before. Would have been easy to have a tiny radio news build in the movie, people discussing if there will be a war, what Syria and Jordania and Egypt are up to .... explaining at least some background.

Trying to remember the details, I find that I'd like to see the movie again for a better understanding, so I hope for a DVD release in Germany.

After the movie, on my way back to my car, I felt quite oriental: this part of the town could be rightfully called "Little Turkey" - Turkish bakeries, groceries and fast food, Arab phone shops, Turkish and Punjabi clothing shops, lots of Turkish hair dressers and the jewellery on display very different form what you see in the city. In my long winter coat and a scarf around my head against the cold, I fitted in quite well
This time I managed to resist those overly sweet turkish pastries - last Saturday that was the best outcome of my trip

I haven't been able to see the movie yet, but I had a similar reaction when I heard that Frieda Pinto would be playing this role. Then I saw a photo of Rula Jebreal, the woman who wrote the story, which is based on her own life. Rula is the one in peach below; Frieda is in aqua.



Turns out this "regular person" is drop dead gorgeous!

Mel, you are right, she looks fantastic!
No wonder they wanted someone beautiful for that part.

Well I saw Miral yesterday, in my home town Chichester. We have a wonderful place called New Park cinema which is a well known art house. It has some wonderful films from all over the world. It is home to many things, including yoga, dog training al sorts of hings. Its very "English" The hall where the films are shown is small and holds up to 150 people.. It was the first Screening of Miral there are three more to go.
When I arrived I did wonder if I would be the only one but I was pleasently surprised to find about eighty people there mostly couples and single women of my age, there a couple of young people too.

Well I got a lot out of the film it did get my attention although it did help to know some of the backgroud, and I would say that Ulli summed it up very well.

I did find some of the camera work made me feel sea sick! and I am a good sailor.
After the film finished, everyone remain seated so they must have enjoyed it too.

Sid was lovely as the Father there were some touching moments between him and Miral, a lovely part for him to play and nice to see him on screen throughout the film.

I just wondered that I may have missed Sid's thoughts on the movie,.

Just watched Miral. Siddig probably has the most screen time of the actors as his character interweaves within all the narratives.

Beautifully filmed and more than even handed between the Palestinians and the Israeli's. The need for identity and self determination are the engine of the movie both on a political and individual level. I found the basic conflict of a split Palestinian society separated by education, gender, age and political beliefs to be the cornerstone of the movie.

Criticism are few but have left me trying to work out my feelings and will not be able to process them for some time. All i can access at the moment is that I feel both terrible despondent and at the same time hopeful of a better future. Human nature can be profoundly complicated.

Schnabel is a true talent with the screen almost being a digital equivalent of paint on canvas. He uses glorious colors and in most cases the acting is fantastic Siddig shines throughout and I thought Willem Defoe performance was rather wonderful in a tiny role.

I had no problem with Pinto except I thought her accent strayed all over the place. Not an easy role with the need to convey youthful arrogance and political awakening.

I would recommend that you see this if possible.

Jude.

Thankyou very much for your thoughts Pothos. It left me with mixed emotions such a difficult theme, what an inspiration Hind Husseini was she was the real hero of the time.
Just got it on DVD from Amazon from a second viewing I really appreciated Schnabel's direction, it was like waching an a painting develop.

Debbie

Is it out on DVD yet? I just checked my Netflix que; it says the date available is "unknown"

DVD is out in the UK I believe it is still on it's theater run in the US though.

All the best.

Jude.

I was sent this through Google alerts and suspect this is a new interview.

Visit My Website

Hope that this works.

Jude.

I've seen that interview, downloaded it, and burned it-and now I'll have it Forever!

If someone could do a screen capture from the trailer, I'd appreciate it. There will be some discussion of this film in the May issue of the newsletter and it would be great if I could have a capture of Sid in that role.

Thanks!

Carol

Thank you Jude, I had not seen this interview, Funny to see Sid without a beard, he looks so youthful.

Debbue

Sent you an email.

Btw: the German dvd will be out on may 12.

Did anyone read the book, yet? While it explains a lot more about the characters and answers some of the questions I had after watching the movie I feel it is "not well written". Maybe it loses a lot in the translation because I had expected more. The book includes the story of "Khaldun" a young teenager. It would have been great if his story had been included in the movie.

That's a pretty common thing reaction isn't it with reading books and seeing movies. I guess they always have to leave something out in the translation to screenplay--- and oftimes it ends up being a really good character or something. Haven't managed to find this on DVD or anything. But a lot of stuff's got me intrigued. Is it worth looking harder?

Ah, good interview. Now I want to know what is is about him that no one knows that he won't say! lol.




Not really; we all need our secrets.

I just saw the movie from Netflix

My heart is breaking for his character

But I'm not saying anything more!

I FINALLY SAW IT!!!!! Darn my daughter for tweaking my Netflix queue to suit her! We had gotten several movies that she wanted before I thought to check. lol

It certainly did open my eyes to the situation in Israel/Palestine. The sound was so low that even set at volume 44 when normally 38-40 is good, I couldn't hear it. Good thing I can set up the captions because I did not want to miss any of the dialogue.