{"id":8298,"date":"2010-02-22T20:28:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-23T04:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=8298"},"modified":"2010-02-22T22:14:57","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T06:14:57","slug":"herman-hussein-hassan-2009-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=8298","title":{"rendered":"Herman (Hussein Hassan, 2009): Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Nicholas Berquist<\/a>. \u00a0Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hussein Hassan\u2019s Herman<\/a><\/em> is a valiant and courageous movie that unfortunately falls way short of the mark.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t everyday that a film is released from Iraq.\u00a0 The country has never been known for its artists, which is something Hassan is trying to change.\u00a0 His film is daring and controversial because it comes from Iraq and stars a female as the leading character.\u00a0 This film has a very powerful message but isn\u2019t good enough to gain the attention it needs in order to make a difference in Iraq.<\/p>\n

Herman and Adar are two lovers who are first seen splashing and playing in a pool somewhere in the forest.\u00a0 They are passionate and deeply in love.\u00a0 We are introduced to the protagonist, Adar, through clever uses of sound.\u00a0 For instance, when she goes underwater the sound becomes hollow as if the audience was underwater.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t happen for Herman.\u00a0 This scene reminds me of a cleansing of sorts.\u00a0 Watching these two characters bathe each other and splash each other in this leaf-ridden pool in the middle of nowhere is a foreshadowing of the adventure to come.<\/p>\n

Herman must leave the village to buy the necessary items he needs to marry Adar.\u00a0 While he is away his village is invaded and all the people are taken prisoner.\u00a0 Adar and her people are moved to an internment camp off in the desert.\u00a0 Herman returns to find his village burned and everyone missing.\u00a0 He embarks on a long dangerous journey to reunite with his love.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Adar discovers she is pregnant with Herman\u2019s child who turns out to be her cousin.\u00a0 Herman must find Adar before her family does something drastic to remove the shame she has brought upon her family.<\/p>\n

The story is riveting, but the telling is less than satisfactory.\u00a0 At some points the film is predictable and at others it is confusing.\u00a0 During an early scene, Herman is falling asleep in his tent.\u00a0 Adar walks over and places her hand on the outside.\u00a0 Herman puts his hand against hers with the cloth preventing them from touching each other.\u00a0 This foreshadows their story, symbolizing the fact they will never be or can never be together.<\/p>\n

The film becomes confusing through Hassan\u2019s use of flashbacks.\u00a0 There is nothing cosmetic that changes with the chronology so visually it is difficult to discern a flashback from current action.\u00a0 Also the flashbacks occur at such odd times it is unclear if what we see is imagined, it happened, or it will happen.\u00a0 Specifically, when Adar is suffering from morning sickness she has what I assumed were fever dreams.\u00a0 What they actually were, I cannot tell, and that is exactly my point.\u00a0 Hassan needed a clearer vision, something to differentiate the scenes and help his audience connect the dots.<\/p>\n

There is the slight chance that culturally the film simply doesn\u2019t transcend and that is why as a viewer it feels disconnected.\u00a0 Perhaps in Iraq that style is very clear.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Hollywood films are so formulaic we come to expect certain things in the films we see. \u00a0Hassan didn\u2019t deliver on my expectations so my experience was hindered as a result.\u00a0 Hassan is almost there.\u00a0 His story was fantastic and his characters were believable.\u00a0 The only thing he needs to work on is his tone and overall composition.\u00a0 A little cohesiveness goes a very long way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Nicholas Berquist. \u00a0Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Hussein Hassan\u2019s Herman is a valiant and courageous movie that unfortunately falls way short of the mark.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t everyday that a film is released from Iraq.\u00a0 The country has never been known for its artists, which is something Hassan is trying to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}