"Happy Holidays', a deeply political choral film
In cinemas, the second feature film by Palestinian director Scandar Copti. Also among the new releases is 'Reflection in a Dead Diamond'.
3' min read
3' min read
Characters that turn into profound socio-political allegories: this is the premise behind 'Happy Holidays', the second feature film directed by Scandar Copti, a Palestinian director with Israeli citizenship, who had made a name for himself with his previous film 'Ajami' in 2009, which even made it to the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. At the time, his words, in which he emphasised that although his film represented Israel at the Oscars, he did not do so on a personal level, caused much discussion.
'Happy Holidays' takes place in Jerusalem and tells of the consequences triggered by a small, seemingly inconsequential incident.
The protagonists are four characters: Rami is a Palestinian from Haifa, who finds himself coming to terms with his Jewish girlfriend's sudden change of heart about a planned abortion, putting an already fragile relationship in crisis; Hanan, Rami's mother, is faced with an increasingly pressing financial crisis and at the same time becomes embroiled in a series of complications when she seeks compensation for the accident of her daughter Fifi, who was involved in a dark affair; Miri, on the other hand, is grappling with her teenage daughter's depression while trying to convince her sister to terminate her pregnancy.
Four stories and four interconnected characters, through which the relationships between different cultures, generations and genders emerge, in a context marked by unwritten rules and deep socio-cultural contradictions. The different stories thus intersect a series of events in which lies and half-truths highlight the different aspects of a deeply patriarchal society, where the weight of collective expectations conditions every individual choice.
