Hanadi Elya makes her feature film debut with this candid dramedy that exposes the skeletons in the closet of three very different women, all connected to one man, whose passing brings about a lesson in compassion with marital throes at the forefront. The Palestinian-Jordanian Director is a champion for women-centric thought-pieces that shine a light on the issues facing marginalized communities and with her first feature film, she offers just that, with a strong female cast leading the charge.
Salma's Home is screening at the Arab Film Festival
Bakri Hassan Omari is dead. Although Salma (Juliet Awad), his first wife, is left in the dark. The struggling baker, a picture of sadness, steadily hangs on to her craft with furious dedication, baking alone in the kitchen. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Lamia (Rania Kurdi), the deceased's second wife and aspiring socialite, sits in on his memorial service with an air of contrived grievances separating her from the ‘commonfolk' surrounding her. Thrown into the mix is the daughter of Salma, Farah (Sameera Asir), who upon receiving the devastating phone call, unites the three disparate women together in ways they could hardly fathom.
The women are met with the shocking revelation that Bakri has left nothing behind for them, save for some spare change and co-ownership to the same property Salma lives and works in. Chaos then ensues when the cold-hearted Lamia budges into the family home, uncovering unsavoury truths and bringing her brand of toxic drama into the innocuous home affairs of mother and daughter. (Well, apart from Farah's rocky marriage to her ne'er-do-well husband,Malek (Firas Taybeh) that is…)
Hanadi Elya wants to take us away from the desserts of Jordan, to a place less represented of her gorgeous country. The breath-taking wide shots of the cityscape and concrete playground with Marcus Patterson on the lens, indulge just that, with Juliet Awad almost fading in the foreground, very much like her character, who struggles to keep up with the newfound interference into her life.
The cinema of Jordan is almost non-existent and with this lack of a local film industry, excessive creative freedom is given to the director, who is able to explore seductive topics and themes not often seen for filmmakers from that part of the world. Unfortunately, this also proves to be a double-edged sword for ‘Salma's Home ‘. In an effort to shed light on the situations concerning the lives of everyday people, Elya utilizes all the stereotypes in the book (like the bitchy socialite,useless husband,alcoholism problem, etc…) with weak one-dimensional character development that makes it hard for the audience to feel for the women involved within the narrative.
However, credit must be given for the impressive performance of the stellar cast, with Juliet Awad's slow-burning portrayal of the self-sacrificing Salma, a regular feat for the 71-year-old television legend, who is regarded as one of Jordan's most famous dramatic actresses. Then we have Rania Kurdi, who cannot be more different from her vile and unlikeable Lamia, who is so unbearable to watch that it almost makes it hard to believe how she eventually melts her cool exterior to reveal a semblance of a heart.
Yet, in spite of it all, the entire story-arc feels like cinematic Déjà vu. By the film's midpoint, you have a good sense of what is going to playout, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, without much in the way of intrigue or suspense.
As ‘Salma's Home' haphazardly transitions from one clichéd instance to the next, it attempts a heartfelt empowerment of womanhood, but sadly becomes predictable and unconvincing in the delivery of its message. With ways to go for Jordanian cinema, this is a humble and enthusiastic step in the right direction.
