Et maintenant on va où?

Where Do We Go Now by the Lebanese-Canadian director Nadine Labike is set in a war-torn village in Lebanon. The backdrop of the movie is the Christian-Muslim conflict plaguing the region at large, and its effect on the mixed population of the village dwellers. The comedy-drama focuses on a group of women and their antics to keep the men off each other's throats. It starts off in an almost utopian setting, with the view of the village mosque and church at dusk in a single frame, symbolizing the ideal of peaceful existence between the Christians and Muslims.

The movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the people's choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nadine, who also acts in the film, may be accused by some quarters of trivializing the conflict between the Abrahamic faiths with her comic take on religion, complete with a climax reminiscent of a Cheech and Chong flick. However, the tone of the film remains somber throughout, and the viewer is often reminded of the toll of the conflict on both sides of the religious divide, with glimpses of intermittent sectarian strife.

The intelligent dialogue, interspersed with repartee between the female characters is refreshingly entertaining, offering a peek inside the (mostly) segregated Arab society and humanizing a population segment often portrayed as meek and subservient to the other sex.

Nadine's second directorial venture after Caramel continues to court controversy, with an ending which Labaki acknowledges might "raise a lot of polemics. It might upset people who are a bit fanatic or too conservative..." By the end of the film, Nadine is sure to rouse some thought-provoking questions in the viewers mind, fulfilling the obligation to her craft and pushing the envelope. Where Do We Go Now has been chosen as the Lebanon's 2011 entry in the best foreign language film category for the Academy Awards.

This is not normally a film I'd go out of my way to watch, in fact, it was another of various film titles my mom picked to watch on the Netflix list. Now that I have, I must say I was quite bemused at the way the whole thing was depicted, that being the way a war between two different religions in Lebanon is being averted by various of the women in the way they treat their men and the way they do little things to keep them from getting out of control. While there are some humorous things here and many of the musical numbers do take things to a whimsical tone, there were also many touching dramatic things that were also effective to me, if not as much to my mom who didn't seem as touched. So on that note, I say Where Do We Go Now? is worth a look if something about conflict in a foreign country intrigues you.

I am a big fan of IMDb. I always come here for reference to see movie ratings and reviews. But I never had an account--at least not until today. I just came back from watching "Where Do We Go Now?" and I am completely blown away. I signed up just to write a review and to tell who ever reads this to go and watch this movie. I laughed. I cried. I connected with the characters. I loved the music, the mood and the message of the movie. I will not reveal anything about the storyline so as not to spoil it for you. But trust me on this, you will certainly not regret it. Nadine Labaki has succeeded in orchestrating a masterpiece of a movie. At last, a Lebanese attempt that makes it worthwhile.

The storyline on this wonderful small film shot in Lebanon and other locations, is that the women of this part of the middle east are just fed up with the senseless death of their sons, brothers and fathers, due to religious sectarianism. The steps they go to, to end this insanity are wonderfully funny, and very much to the point of what is needed to break the cycle of violence.

The script is a gem. The team of writers, including director and co-star Nadine Labaki, is just great. It pulls us from comedy through tenderness and tragedy. The acting troupe is very good, very believable. It seems to be shot on location, sets are real enough to make you believe you are there.

The cinematography is great, really showing the town as it is, and placing you very much in the middle of the scenes. Nice lighting, color balance is warm and soft, giving a very homey look to the locations.

It's all too seldom that we who are not in the middle of a internal civil war such as this get to see a window into the world that is trying to hang on to it's sanity, not yet having fallen over the precipice into full scale chaos.

This is a very wonderful, funny, and poignant window into that world, told by people who are very close to the real situation. It could not have been invented by a California filmmaker.

It falls into the classes of films like "The Debt" and "of Gods and Men", stories of middle eastern conflict that are not set pieces, or play to western stereotypes of what is happening there, though it is much 'lighter' and less of a drama than those. This has much more light hearted nature than those films.

9 stars out of ten, for wonderful original storyline, wonderful unknown cast, good acting, great cinematography, nice weaving of humour and pathos, contemporary story, without being trite, solid editing. Also just a good movie, beyond all the technical nonsense.

So if you have read this far, saw those other films, and liked them, you likely will like this better. Again, hard to imagine you will be disappointed in this gem.

Where Do We Go Now? Is a Lebanese film that took me on one of the most dramatic emotional rides I can ever remember. Like some of my favorite films I've seen within the last few years, I never knew where it would go next. The movie roams around giving the viewer a taste of a number of different genres, and doing them all justice. It's such a hard film to categorize but I'll talk about a few of the genres it explores. First of all, there are some musical scenes. They do a beautiful job of capturing a Broadway tone in these moments, and I was humming along with them. I almost wish there were more of these songs, but the movie had a lot of ground to cover, so perhaps pausing for more singing would be a bad idea. Along with the musical element there was also a romance woven into the plot. It doesn't have the beginning, middle, and ending that you'd expect out of a more traditional love story, but they utilize it as a story-telling device a few times, and I thought it was quite effective as a kind of pseudo Romeo & Juliet tale.

The next category you'll find in Where Do We Go Now? Is comedy, which dominates a large part of the first act and is also sprinkled throughout the rest of the film. I was so charmed by the group of scheming wives who are trying to find ways to subtly control the men of the village. Then there are the Ukranian dancers who add another element of humor to the film which I found surprisingly delightful. But at the heart of the film is a dramatic story that echoes the actual political conflict that has plagued the Middle East for millennia. I was mesmerized by this entire story and how even in this remote village there is a constant threat of aggression taking hold and leading the people to violence. On the one hand you feel the general frustration with the fact that these two groups can't maintain peace, but on the other hand you can see how one small act confirms all their prejudices and snowballs into disaster. Where Do We Go Now? Is a marvelous movie that made me laugh and cry multiple times, which shows just how effective its emotional story is told.