Inch’Allah 
Starring: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Siva Levy, Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid
Directed by: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette
Rated: R
Run Time: 102 mins
Genre: Drama
Opens August 30th
By Lisa Minzey of The Reel Critic.com
Hey Phoenix Film Fans! Opening this week is the award winning film (it won the Copper Wing Award for World Cinema at the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival!), Inch’Allah stars Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani, Siva Levy, Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid. What makes this film a winner at our festival and a few others such as Berlin International Film Festival and the Jutra Awards? Read on to find out.
Canadian doctor Chloé (Evelyne Brochu) currently lives within the walls of Jerusalem, Isreal, but crosses over into Palestine to practice medicine to expecting mothers in the settlements. When an attack on the Israeli side takes the lives of several people, including some whom she knows. During her duration of practicing medicine in the Divide Holy Land, Chloé has become close with people on each side of the wall. On the Israeli side, she spends her evenings with Israeli Border Checkpoint Guard Ava (Sivan Levy), going out drinking, dancing and escaping from the seriousness of the Palestine side of the wall. During the day is a whole different world on the Palestine side, caring for pregnant women, trying to issue prenatal care the best she can in poor conditions of a local clinic. One of the mothers she and Ava are friendly with, Rand (Sabrina Ouazani), whose husband is awaiting sentencing by the courts. Rand’s brother Faysal (Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid) belongs to a local group whose antics are of a militant nature.
When tragedy strikes Rand, Chloé is forced to take sides of a war that is not her own. Can she choose a side when she cares deeply for each friend or will her relationships suffer greatly because of two nations at war?
What “Inch’Allah” does an amazing job of is creating enough tension in relationships and empathy for each character that when the end scene is revealed, it feels like an emotional punch to the gut. We may not understand the all the reasons why these two small nations have been fighting for many years, but it does raise the topic of human decency, tolerance and revenge. Check out “Inch’Allah” when it opens in theaters starting Friday August 30,2013.
