MPAA Rating: R
Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette
Film Pulse Score: 6/10
Barbeau-Lavalette sets out, in her second narrative feature, to display the precarious on-going situation on both sides of the Israeli West Bank barrier through the eyes of an outsider – the outsider being Canadian doctor, Chloé (Evelyne Brochu), who works in the Palestinian territories at a small maternity clinic while residing in the perceived comfort of Israel. Barbeau-Lavalette, who also wrote the screenplay, presents these struggles through the filter-perspective of Chloé, all while remaining non-judgmental toward both sides of the conflict.
The viewer is introduced to Chloé along with her friend Ava (Sivan Levy), who occasionally works border detail, enjoying the nightlife that Israel has to offer, paling around the empty streets with bottle-in-hand – this is the comfort in which Chloé resides. However, early morning comes and along with it we see Chloé pass through border security and begin work in the small maternity clinic tending to expectant mothers, one of which is Rand (Sabrina Ouazani), a young Palestinian woman expecting her second child.
Chloé is a bit unorthodox with her medical practices; she’s young, optimistic, and seems to be overly emotionally invested in Rand’s life. She begins to spend a great deal of time not only with Rand and her unborn child, but also with Rand’s family – her brother Faysal (Yousef ‘Joe’ Sweid), her first son Safi (Hammoudeh Alkarmi) and her elderly mother. Granted, Chloé may have been thrust into this deeply personal relationship through an attack on a Palestinian settlement camp that forces Chloé to stay with Rand’s family for the night, rather than the relationship developing organically – an important insight, perhaps, in itself.
However, Chloé becomes even more emotionally invested through her sympathies after witnessing a tragic incident within arm’s reach of the barrier. Her sympathies appear to be fully entrenched on the Palestinian side after this moment, while a burgeoning animosity materializes between Chloé and “you Israelis” – as she puts it to Ava. She subsequently begins to hang flyers in remembrance of the young boy who was killed, and attends a campfire vigil, all while spending more and more time on the Palestinian side of the barrier.
Chloé’s Palestinian sympathies reach the pinnacle after a desperate plea to pass a checkpoint just outside of the local hospital goes unanswered in the midst of Rand’s ever-approaching labor, set in the backseat of the family’s vehicle. The aftermath of this inhumanity appears to kick up a litany of emotions between the various characters – Chloé’s guilt and isolation, Rand’s animosity and anger towards her perceived selfishness of Chloé (which she blames for her tragic circumstance), among others which force Chloé to rectify the situation with good intentions. Those good intentions, however, lead her and those involved down a path of destruction; perhaps Chloé should have heeded the pleas of neutrality from Ava and her colleague Micheal (Carlo Brandt).
The film does seem to take some bewildering jumps in plot development towards the end with Chloé acquiescing to a service that feels completely out of character, bordering on illogical; however, these slightly nonsensical developments are handled with such reserve, downplaying the massive leap the film takes with its characters. Inch’Allah features strong central performances from everyone involved, effectively communicating the internal and external struggles inherit within a complex situation such as Israel v Palestine. These performances, along with some striking images of the barrier from cinematographer (and the director’s father) Philippe Lavalette elevate Inch’Allah into an (almost) engrossing film that deftly handles a sensitive situation from an outsider’s point of view in a much-needed, non-judgmental way.
