Miral

This is certainly not an old movie. I read about it on a news site, that Israel was complaining that the film gave it unfair portrayal. Of course, if some government doesn't want me to watch a film, I have to watch it.

I wanted to learn more about the troubles in the middle east. From watching this film, it may be hard to understand the root of the problem or its exact history, but you will get a good idea of the injustices Palestinians face.

From the start, I was pretty surprised at the physical appearance of the lead. She has rather dark skin and appeared Indian to me, which as it turns out she was (the actress, not the character). I thought this was an odd choice to have an actress who doesn't look like a Palestinian, but it turns out that she does look rather similar to the original Palestinian author on whose autobiographical novel this film was based. I guess I need to adjust my perception of what Palestinians look like.

This film is 65% in English, but the version I watched was without subtitles. The story was still fairly clear but I will have to go back watch it again with subtitles to see what I missed.

The lead actress, Freida Pinto, also appeared in Slumdog Millionaire, which I also watched, but I don't recall her role in it. That was a rather odd film, and I am uncertain what made the film noteworthy, with the exception of all the controversy surrounding the child actors.