jimcheva

For about fifteen minutes, I thought this was going to be another predictable tale of racism in the South. Then we begin to see people shifting from their predictable stances and seeing each other as human beings - without any quick or facile solutions. We begin to care about people it would be easy today to despise, and to see them open to others. It helps that Taraji B. Henson brings in a spirit and an anger which veers into outright comedy at moments and makes her own apprenticeship in compromise all the more intriguing. It is above all a very human film that nonetheless educates us on larger issues. (Oh, and having known some actual French architecture students, the use of the term "charette" here was a revelation to me :) )

I should say right off I have seen other film about Algerians, both there and in Paris. So I'm not unfamiliar with the themes and issues.

I found this often confusing - the protagonist's behavior borders on irrational more than once - and not really evidence of oppression or even racism. Her husband is certainly more violent than we would think acceptable, but not terribly so I would think for the culture at the time and not entirely without provocation. While her errors in dealing with the larger culture are somewhat touching, they're almost like comic relief at times. (In that regard, it occurs to me that this film is also reminiscent of one about a Palestinian immigrant in America.) The mother in law is a bit of a caricature (though very well-played). The exact motivation of the various helpers is uncertain; you would think too that one would know better than to give a certain sort of gift. There's a running theme of a garden contest which never quite comes to the forefront nor gets resolved. The "happy ending" some have mentioned comes largely out of nowhere.

Her over the top joy at learning another Algerian woman lives nearby is almost disturbing in its intensity and the risks she takes given her otherwise hyper-traditional upbringing seem downright eccentric.

Basically, the film mishandles too many disjointed elements and never really lays its central issues out clearly - unlike other work I've seen around this community.

A good part of this so follows a formula that it felt like a Hallmark movie. What saves it early on is the charm of the two leads, who are gently believable together. The gallery is a nice touch too. The formulaic progress stutters a little, stopping and starting in disconcerting ways. Then it seems to settle into a predictable flow and even hits the required obstacle. But the way it comes back (per custom) is awkward and then new obstacles are, if anything, maddening, raising larger issues which never quite feel resolved and leading to some real problems of pacing for the rest of the journey. But there is enough real humanity and feeling to make much of it engaging. Pleasant enough, but not quite satisfying.