Miral (2010/11)

Six Stars out of Ten Stars (******/**********)

Wow, does ANYONE like this film? Talk about taking masses of critical, commercial and worldly admiration from your last film, and completely dissipating it all with the follow-up. Julian Schnabel must be in a weird headspace right now. He certainly seemed to be at the Gala Premiere of Miral at the London Film Festival last night. Introducing the film he told the audience that “making Miral caused me to get a divorce”, but that he didn’t “regret doing it”. Well. I hope that works out for you in the long-term, because nobody likes the film mate. Sorry.

Although saying that, I didn’t actively dislike the film as much as many others, although it is saddled with an awfully plodding, often ridiculous script. Miral focuses on the Palestinian sacrifices in the Arab-Israeli conflict, primarily through the titular character, played by Freida Pinto, although a host of other female characters are also covered, most notably Hiam Abbass’ orphanage founder Hind Husseini. Guy Lodge has already pointed out many of these ridiculously clunky scripted moments, from the young Miral’s constant and earnest declarations of love, to her soundbite attitude to activism, aptly summed up by her conscientious neigh “I feel so useless, I really want to do something!”. “You don’t understand!”, is another, and pretty much becomes her catchphrase. The character is no more than a willowy cardboard cutout of the girl she is supposed to represent. There’s reality in there somewhere, but mostly the script calls on Miral as a sounding board for sweeping political statements or hackneyed emotional displays.

Saying all this it’s not that bad to watch. In fact I quite enjoyed it. The familiar directorial touches from Schnabel give it an alright visual feel. Pinto and Abbass are constantly fighting the duff things they are being made to say, and despite floundering a few times, largely come out unscathed. Freida Pinto really is stunningly beautiful as well. I know it shouldn’t matter, but, well, wow. She was there to introduce the thing too, and a prettier lady I am yet to see.

This is well worth a miss, but if it comes on TV at any point I’d give it a bit of your time. Also watch out for the most pointless and obvious cameo ever from Vanessa Redgrave.

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Tags: Arab-Israeli War, Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass, Hind Husseini, Jerusalem, Julian Schnabel, Miral, Palestine, Palestinian Conflict, Rula Jebreal, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Vanessa Redgrave, Willem Defoe, Yasmine Al Massri