Review

What: Inch ’Allah

When: Tonight, 9:15

Where: Empire Capitol 6

Rating: three stars

There’s a reason the never-ending Israel-Palestine conflict has raged on despite decades of diplomatic intervention. The apparent hopelessness of it all is movingly humanized in Anais Barbeau-Lavalette’s stirring cautionary drama relating the experiences of an outsider with divided loyalties — Chloe (Evelyn Brochu), a Quebec obstetrician who lives in Jerusalem and works at a UN-operated women’s clinic in the West Bank. Although this by-the-numbers story is a tad manipulative and could have used deeper character development, the incendiary drama is solidly anchored by Brochu’s simmering intensity as the stoic physician whose friends represent both sides. Ava (Sivan Levy), her fun-loving neighbour and drinking buddy, is an Israeli border guard who dreads checkpoint duty. Rand (Sabrina Ouazani) is a pregnant Palestinian patient who supports herself by scavenging the dump along the wall, and whose militant brother Faysal produces posters of Palestinian “martyrs.” Shocked and saddened by the horrendous conditions around her and horrors such as the sudden explosion in an Israeli outdoor cafe that opens the film, Chloe feels compelled to covertly arrange a visit for Rand’s family to the home they lost across the border, and to attempt to help both sides achieve harmony. Her gestures backfire, however, as the grim reality of the situation impacts their personal lives. Barbeau-Lavalette does a fine job of evoking that reality — the chaos, snap interrogations, intimidation by gun-toting soldiers who barge in unexpectedly, and children in danger of being run over by military vehicles — but she also leaves herself open to criticism for being less than impartial.

© Copyright 2013