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In A New Day in Old Sana’a, Yemen’s first feature length native film, filmmaker Bader Ben Hirsi creates a cinematic masterpiece, which realistically illustrates what love and life are like for young Yemeni men and women. “The representation of human fate on the background of an entire social context forms the essence of the realist genre,” of which Hirsi’s film definitely falls under (Shafik). The story revolves around Tariq, who is betrothed to Bilquis, a very suitable young lady from a wealthy family, whose father is a judge. But despite their social compatibility and Bilquis’s prominent family, Tariq finds himself in love with another woman. However, Ines is not a good match for him at all, due to her low social status as an orphan who makes a living by applying the nagsh (henna designs) to people as a service.

Hirsi’s film serves to illuminate the reality and complexities of love and marriage within the culture of Yemen through the characters of Ines, Tariq and Bilquis. “…such stories really do happen often in Yemen…for people in Yemen it’s an important issue” (Hirsi, interview). Contrary to our Western misconceptions and predispositions about arranged marriages, the process is embraced and respected still by younger generations. It is done with the intention of providing the best and most secure life for the two parties involved. The two families marry into one another-it is not just about the couple themselves, and familial honor is of the utmost importance.

The pressures Tariq faces from his sister ultimately lead him to abandon his feelings and own personal happiness, in favor of respecting his family and the match they have found for him. While he does love Ines very much, selfish feelings are not cause enough for him to abandon his responsibility to honor his family. His sister does not seem to care the least bit about Tariq’s happiness and she chastises him for even considering not marrying Bilquis. In this exchange, it is clear that the idea of breaking a betrothal is not an option for an upstanding man like Tariq. He sacrifices true love, in order to fulfill his duty. He chooses the long-term happiness of everyone else over his own.

For Ines, her deliberation on whether or not to run away with Tariq comes a bit easier. She does not have a family pressuring her to honor them. Because of her social status, she has a little bit more personal freedom. But despite this, she still is extremely hesitant to just run away from her society for true love. She understands and respects the positions that both Tariq and Bilquis are in, and for a long time would not give in to her feelings. She attempts to rebuke Tariq as he speaks to her from the other side of her front door.

“The movie does a fabulous job in portraying how life is in the conservative country of Yemen,” while remaining a realist film in terms of how it depicts love, duty and the complexities of human emotion (Jarjour).

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Works Cited

A New Day in Old Sana’a. Dir. Bader Ben Hirsi. Perf. Nabil Saber and Dania Hammoud.

Felix Films Entertainment Limited, 2005. DVD.

“I Wanted to Make a Film Which People Everywhere Would Understand.” Interview by

Larissa Bender. Qantara.de. German Federal Agency for Foreign Cultural

Relations, 31 July 2006. Web.

Jarjour, Maya. “‘A New Day in Old Sana’a’ Highlights Inner Struggle between Family

Honor and Love.” McClatchy – Tribune Business NewsMay 19 ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec.

2015.

Khatib, Lina. Filming the Modern Middle East: Politics in the Cinemas of Hollywood

and the Arab World. London: I.B. Tauris, 2006. 1. Print.

Shafik, Viola. Arab Cinema: History and Cultural Identity. Cairo, Egypt: American U in

Cairo, 2007. Print.

Written by: Morgan Blanchard and Hannah Graves

The Lebanese production The Tornado, directed by Samir Habchi, is a violent depiction of life in Beirut and is “inspired by painful experiences of civil war returning to a destroyed Lebanon” (Shafik, 45). The film tells the story of the main protagonist, a Lebanese student named Akram, and his struggle of returning home from Russia to see his mother, yet becoming immediately trapped within the religiously torn and chaotic civil war of Beirut. Using a combination of fantasy, violence, and a creative collaboration of music, Habchi was able to illustrate the victimization of the Lebanese people as well as the dangers of living in Beirut during this war. Although Habchi attempted to use graphic material in the film in hopes to discourage further violence, due to its gratuitous nature, the production was initially banned. Khatib states “when the film was banned, the Lebanese President interfered to let it be filmed because he said it was a film advocating peace” (Khatib, 70).

Upon his return home, Akram is immediately made aware of the reality of the situation and at first he remains an observer and does not become involved with violence. However, his involvement is inevitable due to the extent at which the war has progressed to. Akram quickly becomes an active participant after his friend is killed, as he murders his friend’s killer in retaliation. Akram is transformed from a victim into a victimizer (Khatib, 139). Although there is an abundance of violent scenes in the movie which depict brutal and shameless killings, Habchi diverts pointing blame towards any religious faction by leaving the assailants identities (and which side they were one) unnamed.

Habchi also makes use of fantasy and music in order to illustrate Akram’s role amidst the civil war. The exaggerated musical score and fantastical dream sequences serve to highlight the reality of the dangers of living in Beirut during the civil war. Each inclusion and exclusion of music is intentional by Habchi, to stress the harsh realities of war surrounding everyday life. “In the early 1990s the Lebanese people attempted to return to normalcy after the war’s end” (Burns, 67). At Habchi’s release of this movie, people were still feeling the effects of a post-war era. While they did attempt to regain normalcy, they still bore scars from the war. The vignettes depicting everyday life in Beirut are contrasted against the moments of extreme graphic violence. One of the first examples of lighthearted normalcy occurs when several men are watching a beautiful woman dance, through her apartment window. She moves sensually and does not notice-or does not care-that she is being watched. The accompanying music is lighthearted and pretty, which is reflective of the woman her demeanor.

The dream sequences, where Akram is repeatedly killed, only to wake up and realize he has only been dreaming, serve to illustrate his loosening grip on sanity. Once Akram is “drawn back to Lebanon after hearing news reports of the violence, and once he became immersed in the conflict, it drove him mad” (Burns, 68).