Yara (Abbas, Fahdel; 2018): Lebanon

Film Review by: Bethany Burns Viewed at AFI Film Festival 2018.

Deep in the mountains of Lebanon live small groups of people who rely on each other to not only have their basic needs met, but also to create meaningful and beautiful relationships with one another. The film Yara (Abbas Fahdel 2018) is a stunning exploration of the mostly unseen mountain range in which an adorable love story unfolds. To find love in a remote mountain village seems like a fantasy. This film brings to life in true cinema verite style the plight of a young girl who is secluded alone with her grandmother in the mountains and her unusual chance at falling in love.

There were equally as many elements to this film that I found appealing as I found to not entirely match with the narrative or make sense for the progression of the film.  The visual expose of the mountain dwellers was truly stunning and inspiring. The small hut at the end of the long and windy road was not only a true dwelling it also happened to belong to the actress Mary Alkady who played the role of the grandmother to Yara (Michelle Wehbe). It was unclear throughout if there were moments when Alkady even knew she was being filmed. The small and intimate setting was not matched by the caliber of acting on the screen. I felt as though Wehbe’s portrayal of Yara was both disconnected and a bit too soft for a girl who lived alone in the mountains with only animals and her grandmother.

The improvisational technique used to create dialogue between the characters also added an element of what felt like on screen disconnection. It could have possibly been this awkwardness in trying to create dialogue from nothing that distracted the actors from truly committing to their characters. I also feel as though Wehbe may have been the only outsider in a group of people who were already keenly familiar with one another. This subpar acting played a major part in derailing me from truly enjoying the film. While the landscape was beautiful, the repetitive nature of the mountain side, medium shot of the donkey, and wide shot of the hut in the mountainside also became nothing short of irritating to me as the films lengthy story seemed to just drag on.

The pace of the film felt as though there was no end in sight both within the progression of the narrative and the lack of climactic action within the love story.  The monotone and simple mise-en-scene of the hut was the most realistic connection I could find to the film. Simple living with simple things as a theme both visually and through the narrative gave the film a very authentic and almost documentary like feel.

Young love is one thing, unrealistic love another, but this film put a moderately likely love story in the middle of a rather desolate and empty environment hoping that the beauty of the landscape would be enough to captivate the audience. For me, it did not.