Origin: France Israel | Fiction | Director: Hiam Abbass | 88 minutes

---

Inheritance

by Hiam Abbass

Sales: Film Distribution No MPAA rating
Running time: 88 minutes

A Palestinian family living in the north of Galilee gathers to celebrate
the wedding of one of their daughters, as war rages between Israel and
Lebanon. Internal conflicts explode. secrets are revealed, and lies are
unmasked. The battles between different family members become as merciless
as the outside war once their father falls into a coma and inches toward
death.
This drama is the directorial feature film debut of Palestinian actress
Hiam Abbass (Munich (2005), Paradise Now (2005), The Syrian Bride (2006),
The Visitor (2008), Pomegranates and Myrrh (2008), The Lemon Tree (2009),
Amreeka (2009), Bottle in the Gaza Sea (2010), Miral (2011), among many
other films).

Review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/inheritance-h-ritage-film-review-402003:

The film is structured around the endeavors of Hajar (Hafsia Herzi)
to carve out an independent life for herself. She is studying art in Haifa
where she has shacked up with Matthew (Tom Payne), a young British teacher.
She returns to her village for a family wedding and, unable to dissemble,
tells the truth to her grandfather, the patriarch Khalil (Yussef Abu Warda)
who responds angrily, calling her a slut - he has long favored the claims
of her cousin Ali (G. A. Wasi).

Khalil has three sons, all of whom provide sub-plots: Majd (Makram Khoury),
a heavily indebted businessman who is marrying off his daughter, Marwan
(Ali Suleiman), a doctor married to a Christian woman who discovers that he
is infertile, and Ahmad (Ashraf Barhom) who is standing for election as
village mayor while cheating on his wife with a Jewish woman.
Among the numerous female roles the most notable is played by Abbass
herself as Samira, Majd's wife, an embittered woman who has long since
given up the struggle for her own independence and now sees no reason to
help Hajar achieve hers.
This all makes for dense plotting but Abbass handles the material
confidently, moving the action forward briskly in a succession of brief
scenes with a longer wedding sequence at the heart of the film. Perhaps the
best scenes are the quieter ones, such as when Hajar sits at Khalil's
hospital bedside (he's in a coma, having suffered a stroke), kissing his
hand as she tells him that she needs him, or the moment near the close when
Ali sees Hajar off, wishing her well for the future, his heart breaking
because he knows that all hope of her is lost.
Antoine Heberlé's fluid cinematography adds to the attractions of this
deeply felt movie with striking city shots seen at night (presumably Haifa,
though parts of the film were shot in Turkey) and aerial views of northern
Israel's rugged hillsides.

Trailer: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1137749273?playlistId=tt1637660&ref_=tt_ov_vi

---

View trailer