Hala

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kristine S It's lovely she is free, but what about the poor teacher? Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/04/24 Full Review Rish P This movie is an extremely well written domestic drama pulling from the experiences of the South Asian diaspora, specifically a deep understanding of a complex, conflicting, and at times maddening reality of what life is like as a child of a Muslim immigrant where parents projected their inner conflicts upon those closest to them. Each moment makes you want to help Hala find safety and surety where there is none guaranteed. Similar in many ways to how life can be for those that search for belonging within their home. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/06/23 Full Review Celes D Well acted. A concise arc of the dimensions of situations and emotions facing a young girl who is about to burst into her adult life, and raised in a patriarchal home. This movie offered a sequence of layers and reveals that helped you feel the realities of one who faces the seemingly impossible challenges of cultural shackles, and the steps she takes to deal with that. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/04/23 Full Review isla s This is a film about culture clashes - about a teenage girl of eastern descent having to integrate with her peers in the US without upsetting her conservative parents, who don't agree with her wearing clothes that aren't modest and hanging out with boys etc. I imagine a lot of people can relate to this. The protagonist speaks somewhat poetically about her ability to express herself and trying to find where she stands. I can only imagine the worry she must feel about how her parents will react to certain behaviours and time spent in certain ways - this is definitely a film made sensitively, not laughing at the subject matter at all but treating it well. Its not exactly original, storywise, of course but that's ok. It does pretty well at making the viewer feel emotionally concerned for what happens to the titular character, though it is quite a slow moving film, plot wise - its more of a subtle character driven domestic drama than anything else. Yes, I'd recommend this film. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member So this movie wasn't bad, but it was pretty white saviour-tier. They had no problem articulating her oppressive home-life and I like that they sort of went into the gendered dynamics underlying the relationship women of colour SAHMs often have with their spouses, but they didn't touch remotely on the experience of being a teenage immigrant amongst other white students (nothing on being bullied for not meeting eurocentric beauty standards, being ignored for standing out etc.). You can't really offer a nuanced take on what life is like for a second generation immigrant kid if the only thing you critique is how she doesn't fit in with her parents' culture and not, simultaneously, how she also doesn't fit in with the North American culture around her. It doesn't really do justice to the experience. Also, not all brown people are muslims - why are there literally no Hollywood movies about other Indians? In any case, there are so few movies about the desi experience in general, that ultimately it was still at least a little refreshing seeing one. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review jona i Honest, well-crafted, and interesting. It just never seems to fully ascend. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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