Jay Dwivedi

If you are like me, then you probably pay attention to it only when there is violence in the region, and that image is reinforced when you watch a great movie like “Waltz With Bashir,” (recommended for people who wish to gain more insights into the Israel‘s relationships with countries in the region)

If you watch Caramel (for those curious about the origin of the name of the movie, in Lebanon, instead of shaving their legs, women remove hair from their bodies by using the same technique that in the West is called sugaring, and at one point in the film, even a male character comes in for hair removal ), you will realize that there is more to Lebanon than violence and terrorism.  Reminding me of the movie Nine, this is a story about everyday Arab women and their lives that may seem so ordinary (and therein lies the beauty of this masterpiece from Nadine Labaki).  She also plays Layale, the main character, a naive woman dating a married man who has no interest in ever leaving his wife but keeps lying to her to feel better about himself.  Nisrine (Yasmin Al Masri) is a Muslim girl who lost her virginity to her lover but now needs to get hymenoplasty to become a virgin again so that she can marry someone from an arranged marriage.  Rima (Joanna Moukarzel) is a lesbian in closet but fortunately finds a client (a married woman) and they literally feast on each other (only with their eyes, of course, where Rima is hairdresser and the client comes in more frequently than normal).  Jamale (Gisèle Aouad) is an aspiring actress and terrified of aging.  Rose (Sihame Haddad) is an elderly woman who has devoted her whole life caring for her disabled sister but finds love with an American.

After watching the movie, I realized how universal some of the problems are and I also understood that not all Muslim countries are Iran.  While it is still a very conservative country socially (a cop can harass an unmarried couple for no reason), women do have more freedom in how they dress.  Strongly recommended.