Laila Lalami

I finally watched the Golden Globes yesterday. (I usually tape award shows and then fast forward through all the boring stuff, all the better to savor idiotic moments–like when Dennis Quaid said that “Brokeback Mountain” was the kind of movie that rhymed with “chick flick,” or when Harrison Ford handed his vodka to Virginia Madsen, as if she were his cocktail waitress.)

There were few surprises, of course, except for this: The Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film went to Hany Abu-Assad for Paradise Now. I’ve written about this great film before, and if you haven’t seen it yet, look for it on DVD starting March 21st.

Those of you in L.A. may be interested in a panel discussion with the director that will take place tonight at the University of Judaism on Mulholland Drive, in Bel-Air. Details here.

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, one of the most talked about movies of the year, fortunately also happens to be one of its best. Like Annie Proulx’s short story by the same title, the movie resists the temptation to plead or lecture, opting instead to tell a love story the way its characters live it.

This is no small feat. The vast majority of film representations of gay characters tend to suffer from what director Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) once called the “Sidney Poitier Syndrome,” meaning that gays are either perfect individuals who suffer from society’s persecution, or else its weak, yet noble victims who are saved by the straight man. What Brokeback Mountain achieves is nothing short of miraculous: showing us gay characters as complex human beings.

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The Los Angeles Times‘ Ashraf Khalil and Jailan Zayan explain why Al-Shamshoon, the Arabic-language version of The Simpsons, may not be the big hit its producers hoped it to be:

Omar doesn’t drink beer. That is not a misprint.

Instead, he spends time with his buddies at a local coffee shop. At home, he pops open frosty cans of Duff brand juice.

Needless to say, Simpsons fans in the Middle-East are none too pleased:

“They managed to make one of the funniest shows ever into something that is terribly unfunny, and one of the smartest shows around into something incredibly dumb,” ranted an Egyptian blogger who goes by the name Sandmonkey and who wants the show canceled. “Us Simpson lovers can’t take this abomination any longer.” (..) “What’s Homer without beer?” Sandmonkey told The Times, preferring to be identified by his blogger name. “This is a fundamental issue!”

A couple quoted in the article have found a way to enjoy the show, however. They “dissect the translations, recall the originals and debate what jokes do or do not work in Arabic.” D’oh!

Few movies have the power to engage me beyond the two hours I spend in the theater, but Syriana was one of those. Stephen Gaghan managed to create a fictional world whose complexity, for once, comes somewhat close to the complexity of real life. It’s hard to describe the plot of Syriana, perhaps because the movie doesn’t have one, in the traditional sense of the term. Rather, it gives us several storylines that interweave together to create a story.

Here’s the best I can do: An oil-rich Gulf state decides to sell its oil to the highest bidder, which in this case happens to be China. The deal is signed by the heir to the throne, Prince Nasir (played by Alexander Siddig). A Geneva-based analyst (Matt Damon) believes that the prince is right to apply principles of a free market economy and offers his services. But the American oil company who had hoped to land that deal isn’t too pleased; its CEO (Chris Cooper) wants to complete a merger with another oil company, and having the prince around isn’t so good for their business. The merger, however, is sure to ignite a Justice Department investigation, so a lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) is hired to do due diligence (the kind of diligence where you work out who’s going to take the fall to preserve the merger.) The young men who work in some of those oil rigs are fired at the whim of the deals being made or unmade, and two of them, hoping for three square meals a day, join a madrasa led by a blue-eyed cleric (Amr Waked). The government, of course, has stakes in the lost deal as well, and needs to make sure that oil is cheap and abundant for American consumers, so a veteran CIA man (George Clooney) is sent to Beirut to take care of things. An informant changes sides and turns against one of his contacts. And on and on.

The characters in Syriana are neither good nor bad; they do things out of greed or idealism, out of fear or desperation, each of them only aware of the particulars of their own situation. But in fact everything is connected, everything has consequences beyond those they see. And so the result is the continuing chaos we find ourselves in. The movie is not without fault (in particular, I think it could have given even more depth to some of the storylines) but I really liked it.

BTW, I should say how amused I was to spot Morocco everywhere in this movie: There’s Casablanca, substituting for Beirut; and, look, there it is, substituting for Teheran; and, oh, there’s the refinery port substituting for a Gulf port. I also drove Alex crazy pointing out all the veteran Moroccan actors playing bit parts. You just can’t take me to the movies.

My love for coffee is pretty well documented around these parts. I have a particular weakness for Cuban coffee, but was intrigued to learn about Canned Coffee. Check it out. Several writers have written reviews for them of various Japanese coffees (!).

Hany Abu-Asad’s Paradise Now opened in select theaters this past weekend. The film is about two young Palestinians, Said (Kais Nashef) and Khalid (Ali Suliman), who are called upon by an unidentified terrorist group to become suicide bombers. They are given very short notice, and are quickly taken in and outfitted with bomb belts. Will they go through with the plan? Or will they listen to the entreaties of Suha (Lubna Azabal), a young woman both men have a crush on? It’s a story of love and loss, loyalty and violence, sacrifice and redemption. It also happens to be a very good thriller.

While we’re busy following Said and Khaled, we get a glimpse of life in the West Bank, with its trash-filled streets, dilapidated houses, and omnipresent road blocks. Several characters spend time worrying about water filters. People look up when an ambulance speeds by, and then return to their teas. A video store carries tapes of suicide bombers’ parting words and collaborator executions. A couple of kids try to fly a kite with a Palestinian flag on the back.

Paradise Now is powerful, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and beautifully directed. The occasional didactic moments are there, to be sure, but overall this was still a wonderful movie, one I can’t recommend enough.

I highly recommend Lorraine Ali’s report in Newsweek of her visit with filmmaker Hany Abu-Asad for the movie’s Tel Aviv premiere. Ha’aretz has a long, thoughtful piece about the movie and its director. Even the New York Times delivered words of praise. So do yourself a favor and go see it.

The Associated Press has a piece about the third annual Arab Comedy Festival, which will take place November 13th to the 17th in New York. Details here. (Tickets sold out for the first four nights, so hurry and get yours.)

Ramadan karim to all my Muslim readers, and best wishes for a happy and healthy month. Despite the fact that my observance of some Muslim rituals has faltered in recent years, I still keep up with the fast. I find abstinence from food and drink to be the easy part, in fact. The hard part, I think, is staying away from all the other stuff.

Happy Rosh Hashanah to my Jewish readers. Put some North African flavor in your celebrations by reading this interview of Sherwin Nuland, where he talks about his new biography of Maimonides; and by listening to this cool podcast where Jewlia Eisenberg talks about Algerian divas like Reinette L’Oranaise and Alice Fitoussi.

The Levantine Cultural Center, a Los Angeles-based organization that brings together people of American, Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean heritage to explore the arts, has a history of putting together amazing events. This year alone, they’ve staged a major rai concert, showings of films like Lila Says, poetry readings by Nathalie Handal and Sholeh Wolpe, plays like Nine Parts of Desire, and much else.

But the center has run into some financial trouble. The staff is made up exclusively of volunteers, but they still need to be able to cover rent and program costs. If you are able to contribute, consider making a donation.