The Syrian Bride & A band's Visit

“The Syrian Bride” filmed in the valley region of the Golan Heights depicts the struggles of the people living in that region. As part of the Golan Heights is still occupied by Israel and the people living there considering themselves as Syrians, there is a constant hatred brewing among the two parties. The Druze people still view the occupation of Israelis as a threat to their actual identity and ethnicity. When Israel won the 1967 war, they occupied the Syrian border region of Golan Heights and slowly established it as a part of their territory.

The movie creates a picture of the atmosphere in that region and the problems the people face day to day. As Syria and Israel both claim the Golan Heights to be a part of their territory, there is a constant battle and argument between them. Any kind of official procedure is viewed as an attempt to further establish one country’s right on the region. The very idea of being a part of Israel is despicable to the Druze. The conflict intensifies when the idea of someone crossing the border between Israel controlled area and going into Syria arises. Both country’s border control disregards the others procedures and mandates.

The movie also draws attention to the fact that the passports of the Druze people declare their nationalities as “Unidentified”. The identity of one is the most important thing in one’s life and the Druze people are even denied that because of the nature of the conflict. As they consider themselves as “Syrians”, they also do not wish to obtain an Israeli passport which they can get. The sense of losing their own identity and integrating into something they are not is unfathomable to them. Any person who considers such atrocity of obtaining an Israeli passport or is remotely even supporting the Israelis is deemed to be a traitor against their nation and people. They are usually casted out of the community and are called “contributors”.

To negotiate between the two countries border control, there is a strong presence of United Nations representatives. The conflicts can anytime turn into violent bloodshed and massacre and to control that any kind of official business is handled by the United Nations. But the role of the United Nations in that region is highly circumstantial. They cannot control or predict how each and every case will play out and have to fully rely on both countries officials’ level of negotiation.
The Druze people are also against any form of inter-ethnic marriages as they fear it will slowly abolish their ethnicity. They oppose marriage outside of the region or Syria. When the eldest son in the family returns home after eight years with his Russian Wife, the father does not talk to him or even acknowledge his wife. The village elders also threaten the father with “cast out” if he welcomes the son and his Russian wife into the family.

This conflict in particular is not the usual religious conflict that is pictured in the media about the Middle East, but it goes beyond that. It is a fight for justice for the Druze people and their will to be part of a nation. It is a fight for their identity and their culture. The scope of the conflict cannot be resolved by inaction or the passive control of United Nations. Decades of dispute create the atmosphere of hatred in the region between the two parties and can only boil over at certain point resulting in violence.

“A band’s visit” had a different sort of message than “The Syrian Bride”; it was an attempt to endorse diplomacy between Egypt and Israel through culture. After the 1967 war, there is still a sense of contempt among the nations involved in that war. As the band comes to Israel, it introduces us to the life in the southern region of Israel. These regions of Israel are really undeveloped and the living condition just meets minimum level. Hot and dry desert condition exists throughout the region.

The band’s journey comprised of unexpected turns as they are stranded in a different city for a day and are forced to stay there overnight with the locals. The band gets split into groups of twos and threes as the locals arrange for them to stay and their interactions with the locals change their viewpoints. The movie focused on how people in these regions do not possess the similar disgruntled feeling towards each other and they can actually help each other.

Because of the difficult living conditions in that region and the minimum level of development, there are not many offices or large buildings in sight and not even in a busy transportation system. During the day and night, the city roads are empty and no one is visible in the streets. The city’s nightlife is a joke as like 10 or 20 people meet at a small disco roller skating ring. And apart from the apartments and small shops, there is nothing in the city, not even a park. When the band leader and the local girl were sitting on a bench, she described that she just imagines about the beach and parks and it helps her block out the reality.

The movie was very simple with a few dry jokes and situations. But it really depicted the life in that part of Israel and how the people struggle there. It also had that underline message that Arabs are much more acceptable towards the Israelis and there has been progress made in towards reaching a diplomatic understanding between the countries. It also promotes the idea of accepting people regardless of their differences and be open to suggestion by different people as they can turn out to be the very thing you might be looking for.