The Feminine Mashriq: CARAMEL
This week’s film choice takes place in the incredible city of Beirut. Caramel is the directorial debut of Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki. For her first film, it was important to her to show Lebanon how it actually is, complex and full of life, and not just destitute and war-torn the way that it is portrayed in Western media.
This film centers around a diverse group of women working in a hair salon in Beirut. It shows the city as a thriving metropolitan area where women have to confront aging, infidelity, queer relationships, religious norms, and familial bonds. It’s as funny as it is heartbreaking, and it shows one of my favorite places in the world honestly rather than sensationally. It lets the film first be about female friendship then adds the nuance of taking place in the Middle East.
Labaki chose for the setting of the film to be in a beauty parlor to allow women to fully relax without being seen by the eyes of men and to show the intimacy between a client and stylist. The neorealist style of this film is most successful in its simplicity and its character design. Her characters feel like the women you grew up around: lived in. Labaki found that it was very important for characters to be accessible.
Caramel has become a source of Lebanese pride for the people. While political tensions were high, Caramel reminded outside audiences that people still have to live their lives day by day while unrest exists around them. This film also managed to get through Lebanese censorship without having any pieces removed.
Labaki’s sophomore film, Where Do We Go Now explores the grievances of small town village life and confronts how we interact with our neighbors. But her third film (that many consider her masterpiece) Capernaum is a heartbreaking look into the underbelly of Beirut, exploring life as a refugee or as a migrant worker, human trafficking, and the difficulty of poverty. It is the first film directed by a Lebanese woman to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Honestly, Caramel was a painful rewatch for me. It was a harrowing reminder that this Beirut does not exist anymore. So much of this ancient world was destroyed in the blast. But I’m so unbelievably thankful for this film to exist. It's a blueprint to see what was working and how to rebuild an even better Lebanon.
If you’d like to help the relief effort in Beirut, consider donating to the following:
The Feminine Mashriq is a series created by Emily Basma shining light on the thriving independent cinema of the Arab world—50% of which is made by women and femme directors. This series will focus on narratives that don’t explicitly center on war or poverty, but instead the mundane, poetic, and human aspects of taking up space in the MENA region. Each week we will highlight a film from a different country and explore the idea of national and regional cinema.
I'm Emily Basma, a filmmaker and photographer who firmly believes films save lives. But also I'm not as serious as I seem on the internet. Follow me on insta @emilybasma and reach out if you want to discuss the through-line of Greek mythology and Sailor Moon.