Fri 9/24/2010 "Miral" Collaboration of Jewish American Julian Schnabel and Rula Jebreal, a Arab-Italian Journalist with Israeli Passport "Miral" is a Film Depiction by Julian Schnabel, an award-winning American Jewish film director, of an autobiographical novel and screenplay by Rula Jebreal, a Arab-Italian journalist with an Israeli passport about the "Palestinian Solution"
The Bitter Half Jerusalem Post; By Lisa Palmieri-Billing; September 13, 2010 In ?Miral,? Julian Schnabel?s feature
film about Arab-Israeli relations, Israel is portrayed as the unequivocal
villain
..Miral, premiered on September 2
at the Venice Film Festival and on the Italian circuit...When Schnabel
was asked by an Italian
It was not my task to tell the whole story.?... Glimpses of his characteristic camera
work ? emotions captured without the use of words ? that earned Schnabel
international
Beginning with the aftermath of the
1947 massacre perpetrated by Jewish extremists in the Arab village of Deir
Yassin when
Flashbacks with archival footage mark....bombs
and smoke in Jerusalem in 1948...the 1967 war,,,the first intifada, and
reference
Pinto, who plays Miral, bears a striking
resemblance to author Jebreal. The Miral- Jebreal fusion is epitomized
in the last scene
MIRAL is the daughter of a beautiful
but unhappy Israeli Arab woman from Haifa who, as child, had been repeatedly
abused by her father.
In transposing Jebreal?s well written autobiography to the screen, the Schnabel-Jebreal team fails to capture two of the book?s strongest messages. One is Husseini?s ideal of education as the key to Palestinian national liberation. The second is that the strategy of violence, espoused by Khadun, leads only to further death and destruction. Verbal platitudes and stereotypes
abound in the film. We are told, ?The origins of this conflict have far-off
roots?; ?These settlers living here
Without exception, the IDF is stereotyped
as an army of inhumane villains. In one episode, a massive IDF interrogator
tries to make Miral reveal
Such scenes may well reflect some
repugnant truths. But since the director is not projecting his story purely
from within Miral?s mind, one would
Finally, two fascinating Palestinian characters, beautifully portrayed by Alexander Siddig and Hiam Abbass, represent authentic people. Miral?s father embodies the moral
values and refined traditional culture of the centuries old Arab population
that survives in sections of
And Husseini?s life merits a separate
film. Miral recalls that in 1947, this independent Arab woman from an ancient,
wealthy, influential
Perhaps her struggle and the obstacles
she must have encountered could inspire a Palestinian-Israeli film team
to produce a more worthy
http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=187896
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