Miral

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Miral

PG-13

Released Mar 25, 2011

1h 46m

History

Drama

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Popcornmeter

19%

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64 Reviews

54%

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5,000+ Ratings

In 1948, a woman named Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) transforms her father's home into an orphanage and school for Palestinian children, naming it the Dar al-Tifel Institute. Many years later, a teenager named Miral (Freida Pinto), who has grown up immersed in the institute's peaceful ways, goes to a refugee camp as a teacher. When she falls in love with a zealous political activist, Miral must choose between violence and the peaceful path that her mentor, Mama Hind, taught her.

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Critics Consensus

Miscast and dramatically inert, Miral is a thin chronicle of geopolitical history that offers only shallow insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and characters with even less depth.

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Scott Foundas

Film Comment Magazine

Schnabel dedicates Miral to "everyone on both sides who still believes peace is possible"-a noble sentiment, to be sure, but will anyone on either side really see themselves reflected in such a simplistic, ham-fisted treatment?

May 11, 2011

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Joe Williams

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The director injects some showy images into the mix but, without a defined frame for Schnabel to paint in, "Miral" is an unholy mess.

Rated: 2/4

Apr 15, 2011

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Sean O'Connell

Washington Post

What "Miral" lacks in performance art, Schnabel attempts to replace with design.

Rated: 2.5/4

Apr 7, 2011

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Sam Blan

emel

Many complain that the film is one-sided, but the truth of the matter is it is a character study told from the perspective of our protagonists. Telling anything but their story would be an affront on the characters themselves.

Jul 21, 2021

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Simply seems to have missed the mark.

Rated: 2.5/4.0

Sep 17, 2020

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Matthew Groizard

CineVue

Miral seems more interested in its own prestige than in the characters it seeks to portray.

Rated: 2/5

Nov 5, 2018

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Janet M

This is an excellent movie with insights on the brutal regime of apartheid against Palestinians. Must see!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/07/24

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Audience Member

I really wanted to like this flick. It was an interesting topic, but it felt like an after school special because it missed nuance and depth. Very pretty video sequences, but they, also, felt tacked on. The story line was pretty predictable, Based on truth doesn't mean dramatic. It was a lecture in film.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/14/23

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ari v

Make no mistake, it's the political incorrectness of calling a spade a spade in this particular case - that accounts for just how underrated this film is. The ever-taboo bottom line here is that many of humanity's ugliest moments arise when fundamentalists convince each other that they deserve to improve their position by taking away from the comparatively defenceless. It doesn't matter whether those fundamentalists wear swastikas or yamakas. It's all about as ugly as ugly can be.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Julian Schnabel não faz milagre. O filme é uma boa história desperdiçada.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

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Audience Member

The true story of Hind Husseini is a fascinating one. Unfortunately the movie spends most of its time on much less interesting characters. That combined with some questionable politics and the miscasting of Freida Pinto make this a disappointing film.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

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Audience Member

I LOVED it! Engrossing, entertaining, and realistic, allowing one to see the Middle East situation from the viewpoint of a Palestinian who in the end sided with peace. I ran a non-profit organization in 2002-09 that funded tolerance workshops for both Israelis and Palestinians. While I'm Jewish with relatives who are Holocaust survivors in Israel, I feel that this film depicts accurately the Palestinian experience and in the final section in which an Israeli girl is introduced, an important Israeli viewpoint as well. Before seeing the film, I saw an interview on Charlie Rose with the real "Miral," on which the film is based. From the most challenging of childhoods, this beautiful woman (physically and spiritually) has made so much of her life. We should all be so courageous!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

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Julian Schnabel

Director

Hiam Abbass

Hind Husseini

Freida Pinto

Miral

Yasmine Al Massri

Nadia

Ruba Blal

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Synopsis

In 1948, a woman named Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) transforms her father's home into an orphanage and school for Palestinian children, naming it the Dar al-Tifel Institute. Many years later, a teenager named Miral (Freida Pinto), who has grown up immersed in the institute's peaceful ways, goes to a refugee camp as a teacher. When she falls in love with a zealous political activist, Miral must choose between violence and the peaceful path that her mentor, Mama Hind, taught her.

Director: Julian Schnabel
Producer: Jon Kilik
Screenwriter: Rula Jebreal, Walid Mawed
Distributor: Weinstein Co.
Production Co: Pathé
Rating: PG-13 (Some Violent Content|A Sexual Assault|Thematic Material)
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 25, 2011, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 11, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $371.4K
Runtime: 1h 46m

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