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Rana's Wedding
EMAILPRINTArab Film Distribution

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Foreign
Written by:
Liana Badr
Ihab Lamey
Directed by: Hany Abu-Assad
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 22, 2003
DVD: December 1, 2004
Running Time: 90 minutes, Color
Origin: Palestine
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Clara Khoury, Khalifa Natour, Ismael Dabbag, Walid Abed Elsalam, Zuher Fahoum, and Bushra Karaman
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad's timely feature explores love among the ruins of an occupied territory and is the winner of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival's 2003 Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking. (Arab Film Distribution)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Paradise Now
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site International Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel
A bittersweet film that tells the story of Palestinian life as eloquently as anything ever done.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Phil Hall
Among the finest films made in the Middle East. This small, subtle gem offers a vivid portrait of life in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, presenting its message with an intelligence and vibrancy that celebrates the human spirit in an environment where humanity is routinely crushed and assaulted.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The movie's wistful tone leavened with breaks into farce recalls Elia Suleiman's superbly controlled "Chronicle of a Disappearance."
Read Full Review >Variety Deborah Young
Though shot from the Palestinian P.O.V., the Dutch/Palestinian Film Foundation co-production is remarkably balanced, offering a convinced message of hope for the future.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
Ms. Khoury, often filmed in close-up, gives a deeply sensitive, unsentimental performance, and the feelings that crowd on her face (sometimes more than one at a time) run the gamut from despair to ambivalence to hysterical frustration to tenderness and joy.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Excellent acting, and a plot that combines suspense, whimsy, and political resonance make this Palestinian comedy-drama an unusual treat.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie is passable as a story but fascinating as a document. It gives a more complete visual picture of the borders, the Palestinian settlements and the streets of Jerusalem than we ever see on the news.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
Starts out slowly, unfolding a family history through the poetic use of black-and-white photographs -- blending the figures of Rana's ancestors into the frame as if they still watched the family.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Janice Page
An invitation to see something a little less pretty, and potentially more enduring.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
The film effectively conveys the fears and frustrations of Palestinians struggling in a country that treats them as the enemy.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
Given the tension dogging her every step, I wondered if this would end in bloodshed, but Abu-Assad opts for a more hopeful conclusion, making his film -- strange as it may seem -- a comedy.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Both wry and sobering, if such a thing is possible. In Jerusalem, apparently, it's inevitable.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Clara Khoury delivers a performance that is luminous, fierce and intensely focused as the title character of Rana's Wedding.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Agreeably soft at heart, a fun and progressive entertainment that above all wants to give love a wide berth, no matter what imposing obstacles have to be cleared from the aisle first.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
Khoury may be a few years too old to play a minor still squirming under her father's thumb, but her performance as a timid young woman who finds strength while looking for a husband is quite affecting.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
While the film, directed by Hany Abu-Assad, provides a vivid portrait of the landscape, its dramatic aspects are less impressive, with the contrived plot and paper-thin characterizations basically serving to provide a framework for its impressionistic portrait.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Michael Atkinson
It's tempting to read Abu-Assad's view of his ostentatiously wealthy heroine and her debutante narcissism as satirical of a certain cross-section of modernized Palestinians amid the occupation, but the placid, earnest way her dilemma takes up emotional space in his film suggests half-bakery.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Carla M. gave it a 10:
Wonderfully done!!!!!!!! touching.
