Where Do We Go Now

Plot

Where Do We Go Now? tells the story of a remote, isolated unnamed Lebanese village inhabited by both Muslims and Christians. The village is surrounded by land mines and only reachable by a small bridge. As civil strife engulfed the country, the women in the village learn of this fact and try, by various means and to varying success, to keep their men in the dark, sabotaging the village radio, then destroying the village TV.

The story begins with a boy named Roukoz, whose job – along with his cousin, Nassim – is to venture outside the village and bring back much-needed merchandise such as soap, utensils, newspapers, light bulbs. Roukoz lives with Nassims family, and it is made clear that Nassim has lost his father. Roukoz tries to fix the church speakers, and falls off his ladder, crashing into the cross and snapping it in half. Other characters include the village mayor and his wife Yvonne (Christians), the cafe-owner Amal (played by Nadine Labaki), Rabih (the village painter and Amals love interest) and his sister, Issam (Nassims brother) and his wife Aida, and the village priest and the village imam. The next day, the congregation is gathered in church to celebrate the Sunday mass; The Priest preaches about the need to fix the church, and blames the broken cross on the wind, telling churchgoers to keep their cool and that their fellow Muslims have nothing to do with it. Some time later the Imam discovers that some goats have found their ways into the mosque, and urges the Muslims not to blame the Christians for what had happened. As people start to gather, however, a Muslim man blames the Christians for what has happened and a small fight ensues.

The village is slowly drawn into greater violence; but the women get along beautifully and conspire together to keep their men from fighting, even hiring Ukrainian dancers to entertain their men. But as Nassim is killed in a skirmish between Christians and Muslims while on an errand in a nearby town, the women are faced with a real test of wills. In an attempt to control the situation, they drug the men by mixing hashish inside sweet pastries and remove their weapons from the village. This ensured that fighting would not resume in the village during or after Nassims funeral.

Cast

Production

The shooting of Where Do We Go Now? lasted for 2 months from 18 October until 18 December 2010. Khaled Mouzanar, Labakis husband, composed the music for the film. Tania Saleh wrote the lyrics to all the songs in the film. The movie was released in Cannes in May 2011.

Sam Nessim, who helped co-write the film with Labaki, shot the initial stills for the film and was set to be the director of photography at only 18 years old but he was not available during the months of production due to school so Christophe Offenstein stepped in.

The film was shot in Taybeh a village near Baalbek because the town contains a Church neighboring a mosque, other towns were used during the shooting like Meshmesh, Douma, and Jeitas Church Al-Saydeh.

Release

The film was part of the official selection at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard parallel competition. The film was released on 14 September 2011 in France and 22 September 2011 in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Critical reception

The New York Times compared the story to Aristophanes Lysistrata. The Australian, however, said it did not go as far as Lysistrata.

The Guardian criticised the premise that should women in the Middle East be empowered, conflict would not exist. The Globe and Mail dismissed its inability to offer real solutions to the sectarian strife. America said Labaki drew from her Maronite upbringing to go beyond feminism and make allusions to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a rallying force for the women in the film.

The Detroit News said it was disorienting and disjointed. Similarly, The San Francisco Gate said the film was "undone by its ungainly mix of heavy-handed comedy and melodrama".

Awards and nominations