Film Review: The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées)
The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées)
Released 2009
Director: Karin Albou
Writer: Karin Albou
Country: France / Tunisia
Language: In French and Arabic with subtitles
Runtime: 100mins
Broadcast on SBS 11 November 2009
This excellent film, set in Tunisia in 1942 during the German occupation, focuses on two 16 year old girls, Myriam (Jewish) and Nour (Muslim). Both their families are poor; Nour because that is her family’s lot, and Myriam because she and her mother have fallen on hard times after the death of her father. The two families live in adjoining apartments overlooking the same courtyard in the alleyways of Tunis, where the two girls have grown up together, developing a strong sisterly bond and sharing secrets and dreams of love. Myriam has been to school and is literate; Nour has not attended school, so Myriam has taught her to read Arabic. The girls consider their different religious faiths as being of no consequence to their friendship.
Each girl is to be married off by their families: Myriam to Raoul, a prosperous Jewish doctor, and Nour to Khaled, an unemployed cousin. Myriam resists the match with Raoul; Nour wants to marry Khaled but her father will not permit the marriage until Khaled finds work.
With the arrival of the German occupation forces, problems develop. Anti-Semitic German propaganda fills the radio, calling on Muslims to shun their Jewish neighbours and colleagues. The Germans levy a huge tax on Jews, triggering Myriam’s mother to press her teenage daughter to marry Raoul quickly, as he has undertaken to pay their tax.
Meanwhile Nour has midnight trysts with Khaled on a rooftop, while Myriam covers for her. In order to gain Nour’s father’s acceptance, Khaled finds work as an informer with the Germans, helping to identify Jewish families. Myriam’s house is ransacked and her mother assaulted by German troops guided there by Khaled.
Myriam tells Nour of Khaled’s role with the Germans; Nour’s scepticism causes a decline in their friendship. Khaled increasingly echoes German anti-Semitic propaganda and insists that Nour stop seeing Myriam. Seeking guidance, Nour consults her father’s copy of the Qur’an and comes across two key verses, Sura 2:6-7: As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe. Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur).
This is a key moment in the film; the Qur’an, as the Word of Allah, seems to Nour to be condemning Jews, including her friend Myriam. Nour increasingly adopts the anti-Semitic discourse of Khaled, and confronts Myriam about the perceived advantages of the Jewish community:
“Why can you go to school, and I can’t go?” demands Nour. “Why do I wear the veil and you don’t? Why can you go outside the house without anybody commenting? You’re different Myriam.”
Myriam meets her mother’s wishes and marries Raoul, but their wedding night is a disaster. Raoul shows compassion and accepts the need to proceed slowly.
Meanwhile Nour’s father sees Nour reading Qur’an 2:6-7. He points Nour to another verse which is more affirming of non-Muslims: Q2:62 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
Nour is reassured that Allah does not condemn Jews after all, and seeks reconciliation with Myriam. The film ends with Nour’s wedding with Khaled. She uses the moment of their intimacy to tell him that Allah does not hate Jews and that she is maintaining her friendship with Myriam. In response, Khaled states firmly that it is he who will decide, and that she will not remain friends with Myriam. The film thus concludes on a contrasting note: Khaled’s chauvinistic recalcitrance suggests problems in the future for his marriage whereas Raoul’s compassion suggests that he and Myriam will overcome their problems.
The overriding patriarchal context of Tunisia in the 1940s is a dominant theme of this film. This is emphasised in interview by the talented Karin Albou, writer, director and actress (Tita) in this film: “[The girls] are two different identities, one Jew and one Muslim, but they are culturally the same – Tunisian. They have a lot in common, especially in terms of their situation as females. That’s what I wanted to show … the patriarchal domination imposed on these girls is the same for the Jewish girl as it is for the Muslim. Some people have a kind of nostalgia for that patriarchal period. I think it is important to show what is was really like.”
Another important theme emerging from this film is the different situations for Jews and Muslims in 1940s Tunisia. The French and the Jews had been the intellectual and economic elite of the country prior to the war. The Jews had greater freedoms than Muslims, largely because the status of Tunisia as a French protectorate meant that the Tunisian Jews benefited from the movement for emancipation among the Jews of France. Jewish girls could more easily go to school than the Muslims girls, who were kept at home by their male-dominated families.
However, a further key theme is largely ignored by reviewers. It relates to the role of Nour’s Islamic faith and its holy book, the Qur’an, which is shown to be clearly ambiguous about Jews (and other non-Muslims). So one verse leads Nour to adopt Khaled’s anti-Semitic views (which themselves echo the non-Scripture driven prejudices of the German occupiers), while another Qur’anic verse leads Nour in the opposite direction of reconciliation with Myriam, her Jewish friend. Thus while one source of anti-Jewish prejudice, the German occupiers, is there for a time but then disappears forever, the ambiguous role of the Qur’an as a source of anti-Jewish sentiment remains, leading some (Nour and her father) to embrace their Jewish neighbours as friends but potentially leading others to adopt the prejudicial views of Khaled, who refuses to recant.
This is an excellent film from the perspective of entertainment. But it is much more than that. It provides a window into past history through its snapshot of Tunisia in 1942. But it also provides a window into the future, by laying before the reader those Qur’anic ambiguities that lead some more literalist Muslims to embrace extreme prejudices against Jews and other non-Muslims, a topic of great relevance to today.
Released 2009
Director: Karin Albou
Writer: Karin Albou
Country: France / Tunisia
Language: In French and Arabic with subtitles
Runtime: 100mins
Broadcast on SBS 11 November 2009
This excellent film, set in Tunisia in 1942 during the German occupation, focuses on two 16 year old girls, Myriam (Jewish) and Nour (Muslim). Both their families are poor; Nour because that is her family’s lot, and Myriam because she and her mother have fallen on hard times after the death of her father. The two families live in adjoining apartments overlooking the same courtyard in the alleyways of Tunis, where the two girls have grown up together, developing a strong sisterly bond and sharing secrets and dreams of love. Myriam has been to school and is literate; Nour has not attended school, so Myriam has taught her to read Arabic. The girls consider their different religious faiths as being of no consequence to their friendship.
Each girl is to be married off by their families: Myriam to Raoul, a prosperous Jewish doctor, and Nour to Khaled, an unemployed cousin. Myriam resists the match with Raoul; Nour wants to marry Khaled but her father will not permit the marriage until Khaled finds work.
With the arrival of the German occupation forces, problems develop. Anti-Semitic German propaganda fills the radio, calling on Muslims to shun their Jewish neighbours and colleagues. The Germans levy a huge tax on Jews, triggering Myriam’s mother to press her teenage daughter to marry Raoul quickly, as he has undertaken to pay their tax.
Meanwhile Nour has midnight trysts with Khaled on a rooftop, while Myriam covers for her. In order to gain Nour’s father’s acceptance, Khaled finds work as an informer with the Germans, helping to identify Jewish families. Myriam’s house is ransacked and her mother assaulted by German troops guided there by Khaled.
Myriam tells Nour of Khaled’s role with the Germans; Nour’s scepticism causes a decline in their friendship. Khaled increasingly echoes German anti-Semitic propaganda and insists that Nour stop seeing Myriam. Seeking guidance, Nour consults her father’s copy of the Qur’an and comes across two key verses, Sura 2:6-7: As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe. Allah hath set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a veil; great is the penalty they (incur).
This is a key moment in the film; the Qur’an, as the Word of Allah, seems to Nour to be condemning Jews, including her friend Myriam. Nour increasingly adopts the anti-Semitic discourse of Khaled, and confronts Myriam about the perceived advantages of the Jewish community:
“Why can you go to school, and I can’t go?” demands Nour. “Why do I wear the veil and you don’t? Why can you go outside the house without anybody commenting? You’re different Myriam.”
Myriam meets her mother’s wishes and marries Raoul, but their wedding night is a disaster. Raoul shows compassion and accepts the need to proceed slowly.
Meanwhile Nour’s father sees Nour reading Qur’an 2:6-7. He points Nour to another verse which is more affirming of non-Muslims: Q2:62 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
Nour is reassured that Allah does not condemn Jews after all, and seeks reconciliation with Myriam. The film ends with Nour’s wedding with Khaled. She uses the moment of their intimacy to tell him that Allah does not hate Jews and that she is maintaining her friendship with Myriam. In response, Khaled states firmly that it is he who will decide, and that she will not remain friends with Myriam. The film thus concludes on a contrasting note: Khaled’s chauvinistic recalcitrance suggests problems in the future for his marriage whereas Raoul’s compassion suggests that he and Myriam will overcome their problems.
The overriding patriarchal context of Tunisia in the 1940s is a dominant theme of this film. This is emphasised in interview by the talented Karin Albou, writer, director and actress (Tita) in this film: “[The girls] are two different identities, one Jew and one Muslim, but they are culturally the same – Tunisian. They have a lot in common, especially in terms of their situation as females. That’s what I wanted to show … the patriarchal domination imposed on these girls is the same for the Jewish girl as it is for the Muslim. Some people have a kind of nostalgia for that patriarchal period. I think it is important to show what is was really like.”
Another important theme emerging from this film is the different situations for Jews and Muslims in 1940s Tunisia. The French and the Jews had been the intellectual and economic elite of the country prior to the war. The Jews had greater freedoms than Muslims, largely because the status of Tunisia as a French protectorate meant that the Tunisian Jews benefited from the movement for emancipation among the Jews of France. Jewish girls could more easily go to school than the Muslims girls, who were kept at home by their male-dominated families.
However, a further key theme is largely ignored by reviewers. It relates to the role of Nour’s Islamic faith and its holy book, the Qur’an, which is shown to be clearly ambiguous about Jews (and other non-Muslims). So one verse leads Nour to adopt Khaled’s anti-Semitic views (which themselves echo the non-Scripture driven prejudices of the German occupiers), while another Qur’anic verse leads Nour in the opposite direction of reconciliation with Myriam, her Jewish friend. Thus while one source of anti-Jewish prejudice, the German occupiers, is there for a time but then disappears forever, the ambiguous role of the Qur’an as a source of anti-Jewish sentiment remains, leading some (Nour and her father) to embrace their Jewish neighbours as friends but potentially leading others to adopt the prejudicial views of Khaled, who refuses to recant.
This is an excellent film from the perspective of entertainment. But it is much more than that. It provides a window into past history through its snapshot of Tunisia in 1942. But it also provides a window into the future, by laying before the reader those Qur’anic ambiguities that lead some more literalist Muslims to embrace extreme prejudices against Jews and other non-Muslims, a topic of great relevance to today.